
UCY ELLEN 
GUERNSEY 















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A Lent in Earnest 



SOBER THOUGHTS FOR SOLEMN DAYS. 



LUCY ELLEN GUERNSEY. 




New York : 

THOMAS WHITTAKER, 

2 & 3 Bible House. 

1880. 



p .Gr* 



Copyright, 1889, 
By Thomas Whittaker. 



The Library 
of Congress 

washington 



PRESS OF 

Jenkins & McCowan, 
224-22S Centre St. 



/ dedicate these pages specially to those who, by 
reason of infirmity or other reasons, are shut out 
from the services of the Church at this season. 
I hope, however, that they may be found useful 
and acceptable to others as well. They are the out- 
come of many days of seclusion. May they be 
blessed by Him whose dews and rain cause the 

herbs to spring. 

L. E. G. 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 

Ash Wednesday — Repentance 7 

First Thursday in Lent — Confession 13 

First Friday in Lent — Forgiveness 17 

First Saturday in Lent— Consecration 21 

First Sunday in Lent — Fasting 26 

First Monday in Lent — Fasting 30 

First Tuesday in Lent— How Shall We Keep Lent ? 35 

Second Wednesday in Lent — Abstinence 38 

Second Thursday in Lent — In the Sick-Room 41 

Second Friday in Lent— The Use of Fasting 45 

Second Saturday in Lent — Dangers and Mistakes 48 

Second Sunday in Lent — Helplessness and Help 51 

Second Monday in Lent — Evil Thoughts and Their 

Remedy 55 

Second Tuesday in Lent — Meditation ... 60 

Third Wednesday in Lent— Meditation (Con.) 64 

Third Thursday in Lent — Prayer 69 

Third Friday in Lent — Prayer 73 

Third Saturday in Lent— Intercession 78 

Third Sunday in Lent — Our Enemies 83 

Third Monday in Lent — Our Enemies 87 

Third Tuesday in Lent — The World 90 

Fourth Wednesday in Lent— The Flesh 95 

Fourth Thursday in Lent — Our Ghostly Enemy 99 

5 



6 Co?ite?its. 



PAGE 



Fourth Friday in Lent — The Great Tempter 104 

Fourth Saturday in Lent— Heartiness 109 

Fourth Sunday in Lent— Refreshment 1 14 

Fourth Monday in Lent— Refreshment Sunday (Con.) . . 120 
Fourth Tuesday in Lent — Refreshment Sunday (Con. 1 ) 12, 

Fifth Wednesday in Lent —Comfort 130 

Fifth Thursday in Lent— The Sources of Comfort 135 

Fifth Friday in Lent— The Great Consoler 139 

Fifth Saturday in Lent— The Use of Comfort 144 

Fifth Sunday in Lent — The Government of God 148 

Fifth Monday in Lent— Caesar's Household 152 

Fifth Tuesday in Lent— The Household of God 157 

Sixth Wednesday in Lent— The Household of God (Con. ) 163 
Sixth Thursday in Lent— The Household of God (Con.) 166 
Sixth Friday in Lent— The Household of God (Con.) . . 170 

Saturday Before Palm Sunday-The Alabaster Box 174 

Palm Sunday— Children in the Temple 177 

Monday Before Easter— The Fig-Tree Having Leaves.. 179 

Tuesday Before Easter— The House Left Desolate 181 

Wednesday Before Easter— The Lost Opportunities.. . . 184 

Thursday Before Easter— The Traitor 186 

Good Friday— The Cross 189 

Easter Even— The Last Sabbath 191 

Easter— The Day of the Lord 194 

Conclusion— Looking Back 196 



ASH WEDNESDAY. 

REPENTANCE. 

The key-notes of the services for Ash 
Wednesday are repentance and confession. 
Theirs is the spirit of the first collect, of the 
prayers which, in the American service for 
the day, follow the Litany, of the portion ap- 
pointed for the Epistle, and of the Lessons, 
" That we, worthily lamenting our sins, and 
acknowledging our wretchedness; " "Turn 
Thine anger from us who meekly acknowl- 
edge our vileness." "Be favorable to thy 
people who turn to Thee in weeping, fasting, 
and praying." 

We often use words, even very common 
words, without any clear or exact idea of 
their meaning. " I know, but I cannot tell," 
is an expression familiar to every teacher. 
Now the truth is, we cannot be quite sure 
whether we know or not, unless we try to 
put our knowledge into words. Let us, then, 
examine a little our ideas on this very im- 
portant matter. 

7 



8 A sh Wednesday. 

We find these two .duties of repentance 
and confession constantly conjoined in both 
the Old and New Testaments. The Psalms 
are full of them. " I acknowledge my trans- 
gression, and my sin is ever before me." (Ps. 
li. 3.) " Heal my soul, for I have sinned 
against Thee ! (Ps. xli. 4.) " Repent, and 
turn yourselves from all your transgression, 
so iniquity shall not be your ruin." (Ezek. 
xviii. 30.) Our Lord's own preaching began 
with repentance, as did that of His fore-run- 
ner, John the Baptist./ (S. Matt. iii. 2 ; 
S. Mark i. 15.) It was the first commission 
of the Apostles (S. Mark vi. 12), as it was 
the burden of their preaching after the day 
of Pentecost. (Acts ii. 38.) 

So with confession. We read in Lev. xxiii. 
19, after the most terrible denunciations of 
woe against the chosen people in case of un- 
faithfulness, these reassuring words: "If they 
will confess their iniquity and the iniquity of 
their fathers, if, then, their uncircumcised 
heart be humbled, and they accept the pun- 
ishment of their iniquity, then will I remem- 
ber my covenant with Jacob! " So in Psalm 
xxxii. 15; Joel ii. 12; John i. 9, and many 
other places. 

Our Church, too, in all her services, con- 



Repentance. 9 

stantly presses these things on our attention. 
Since, then, they are so important, is it not 
very needful that our ideas about them 
should be clear and definite, free from mis- 
take or haziness? What, then, are repent- 
ance and confession ? 

Repentance, as the word is used in the 
service for Ash Wednesday, and generally in 
the Bible and the Prayer-book, means turn- 
ing from sin, and to God. It has another 
meaning in some places — that of sorrow or 
regret, as in Gen. vi. 6. " And it repented 
the Lord that He had made man." But in 
general, it means such sorrow for sin as leads 
to the forsaking of it. A man may be sorry 
for some transgression because it has led him 
into trouble; as when a drunkard has de- 
stroyed his health, or a thief has brought 
himself into the grasp of the law; but such 
sorrow cannot properly be called repentance. 
The sinner does not hate the sin. On the 
contrary, he loves it, and is only sorry that 
he has put it out of his power to commit it 
again. 

But true repentance means sorrow for sin, 
because that sin has broken God's law, and 
grieved and offended Him. It means a stead- 
fast determination to give up everything 



10 Ash Wednesday. 

which our own conscience or the law of God 
shows us to be wrong. " Repent, and turn 
yourselves from all your transgressions." 
(Ezek. xviii. 30.) Observe the word all. 
It will not do to keep anything back, to 
have any little secret shrine, in which is hid- 
den an idol. God is a discerner of the 
thoughts and intents of the heart. (Rom. 
vi. 12.) The darkness of its most secret 
inner chamber is no darkness to Him, and 
He will endure no willful deceit in this 
matter. 

I say willful deceit, because we may un- 
consciously deceive ourselves, especially in 
the beginning of our religious lives. As we 
advance in holiness, we shall no 'doubt see 
many things to be wrong which did not 
seem "so at first. But true repentance does 
require that we give up everything that we 
know, or even suspect, to be wrong. 

Nor can this work of repentance be finish- 
ed up in one day, or one Lenten season. It 
will have to be renewed again and again, so 
long as we inhabit these mortal bodies; as 
often as we are made conscious that we have 
offended by thought, word, or deed against 
the Divine Majesty. We must remember 
that our Heavenly Father's precious promises 



Repentance. II 

of remission and forgiveness are made only 
to penitent sinners. " Repent, and be bap- 
tized," said St. Peter to the inquirers on the 
day of Pentecost, and again, in his second 
sermon, " Repent ye, therefore, and be con- 
verted, that your sins may be blotted out 
when the times of refreshing shall come from 
the presence of the Lord." (Acts ii. 8, and 
iii. 19.) The prodigal son, in the midst of 
his wandering and wickedness, was no doubt 
an object of love and care to his father, but 
il was not till he returned to his father's 
house, and submitted to his authority, that 
he was restored to favor. Not that there is 
any merit in repentance, as if we thereby 
earned a title to forgiveness: we must not 
entertain for a moment any such idea as 
that. Salvation is, in its very nature, a de- 
liverance from sin. That is what it means. 
But unless we see the evil of sin we shall not 
wish to be delivered from it. Therefore, in 
every case, the first direction to the inquirer 
is " Repent." 

But of what are we to repent ? 

Of all our wrong doing and thinking and 
feeling — of our neglect of God and His ser- 
vice — -of our carelessness in this most impor- 
tant concern of life — of all our evil deeds and 



12 Ash Wednesday. 

thoughts and tempers. The more closely 
we examine ourselves by the light of God's 
Word, the more we shall see to deplore, till 
we come at last to know practically what we 
have perhaps always believed as a doctrine — 
that in us, that is, in our flesh, dwelleth no 
good thing, and that not only man in gen- 
eral, but we ourselves, are prone to evil as 
the sparks fly upward. 

Let us not, therefore, be discouraged, or 
faint in our minds! For all this evil the 
remedy is provided. Hear what comfortable 
words the Scripture hath for our encourage- 
ment. "Jesus Christ came into the world 
to save sinners." (i Tim. i. 15.) " I am not 
come to call the righteous, but sinners to re- 
pentance." (S. Matt. ix. 13.) Take your ref- 
erence Bible and lock up the passages re- 
lating to this subject, and you will see that 
there is no room for discouragement, much 
less for despair. 

Ps. li. S. Luke xv. 1-10. 



Confession. 1 3 



FIRST THURSDAY IN LENT 

CONFESSION. 

In many places of Scripture, we find coup- 
led with repentance another condition of 
repentance — that is, confession. "I acknowl- 
edged my sin unto Thee, and mine iniquity 
have I not hid. I said, I will confess my sins 
unto the Lord, and so Thou forgavest the 
iniquity of my sin." (Ps. xxxii. 5.) " Only ac- 
knowledge thine iniquity that thou hast 
sinned against the Lord." (Jer. iii. 13.) "If 
we confess our sins, God is faithful and just 
to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from 
all unrighteousness." (1 John i. 9.) 

To whom are we to confess ? 

First of all, to ourselves. We are frankly 
to acknowledge our iniquity, and that not in 
general terms alone, but we are to come 
down to particulars. It is easy to own our- 
selves sinners in a general way, while all the 
time we are cherishing a very good opinion 
of ourselves. " Oh, yes, we are all miser- 
able sinners!" said a shrewd old lady ; "but 



14 First Thursday in Lent. 

we are just as good as the rest of the miser- 
able sinners, and a good deal better than 
some of them." I fancy we all have this 
feeling at times, though we may not put it 
to ourselves quite so plainly. 

In order to make our confession to our- 
selves of any use, it must be frank and open. 
It will not do to accompany every confession 
with an excuse. " I spoke hastily and un- 
kindly, but then I had great provocation." "I 
ought not to have repeated that scandalous 
story, but then I had it on good authority." 
" I ought perhaps to have abstained from 
that amusement, but A and B went, and I 
do not pretend to be better than they." 
Have we not all excused ourselves in this 
style again and again? But what is this but 
saying that we should never do wrong if we 
were never tempted? Let us consider wheth- 
er we dare offer these excuses to. God before 
we venture to comfort and quiet our own 
consciences with them! 

Secondly, we must confess our sins unto 
the LORD. " I said, I will confess my sin 
unto the Lord." (Ps. xxxii. 5.) " Take 
with you words, and turn unto the Lord." 
(Hos. ii. 2.) 

"But," you say, "does He not already 



Confession. 1 5 

know my sins? Why, then, should I confess 
them?" In the first place, because He has 
seen fit to command it. He also knows all 
our wants and wishes far better than we our- 
selves ; yet He has commanded us in every- 
thing to make known our requests to Him. 
" Be careful for nothing, but in everything by 
prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving 
let your requests be made known unto 
God." (Phil. iv. 6.) Surely His will should 
be enough for us, since He commands noth- 
ing without good cause. 

But, secondly, we should confess our sins 
to God, because in that way alone can we be 
made thoroughly aware of their sinfulness. 
A fit of causeless anger, or a bit of malicious 
gossip, looks very different to us when we 
lay it bare before God in our closets. The 
excuse which seemed very plausible when 
the act was committed, will not appear so in 
the light of His presence before whom we 
stand, and who is of purer eyes than to be- 
hold iniquity. If we are honest in our con- 
fession, the Spirit, which searcheth all things, 
will show us aggravations of our fault which 
we never suspected. 

Finally, we should confess our sin unto 
the Lord for the sake of the peace which the 



1 6 First Thursday in Lent. 

action brings to our own hearts and minds. 
There is no time when our conscience tor- 
ments us so sorely as when we are trying to 
persuade ourselves that it is not hurting us 
at all ; when we are making all sorts of ex- 
cuses to ourselves for our faults. 

A wise and witty man once said that all 
the riches and pleasures which life has to 
offer would be embittered and made useless 
to a man who was compelled always to wear 
a sharp nail in his shoe. No doubt, he was 
right. Now, an unconfessed, and, therefore, 
unforgiven, sin is just such a nail. It is true 
that by a long course of neglect the con- 
science may be silenced for a time. But it is 
only for a time, and how awful will be the 
awaking! 

Let us, then, come boldly but humbly to 
the Throne of Grace — to the Mercy-seat, 
where our God is always to be found by 
those who honestly seek Him! Let us con- 
fess all those sins which, by our frailty, we 
have committed, and ask for forgiveness and 
cleansing for His sake by whose stripes we 
are healed, who bore our sins in His own 
body on the tree, and who now sits at the 
right hand of the Father to make interces- 
sion for us. Let us do so, not trusting in our- 



Forgiveness. ij 

selves as if there were any merit in the act, 
but trusting alone in His gracious promises, 
and we shall find peace to our souls. 
Psalm xxxii. I John i. 



FJRST FRIDAY IN LENT. 

FORGIVENESS. 

Having, then, come to the Throne of Grace 
with true repentance and humble confes- 
sion, let us not fail to accept the prom- 
ises of God in all their fullness. Too many- 
do this, and even value themselves on what 
they term humility, but which is in reality 
faithlessness. " I should never dare to believe 
that my sins were really forgiven," said a 
certain person; " I should think it presump- 
tion." Now which is the greater presump- 
tion, to believe what God says, or to disbe- 
lieve it ? See how full and explicit are His 
words of promise to all who turn to Him ! 
" If we confess our sins, He is faithful and 
just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us 
from all unrighteousness." (i John i. 19.) 
Observe the fullness and force of the promise: 
He is faithful and just. Faithful, because He 



1 8 First Friday in Lent. 

has promised ; just, because our Lord has 
borne our sins in His own body on the tree 
(I Pet. ii. 24), and has suffered, the just for 
the unjust. (I Pet. hi. 18.) 

Nor is this all. He not only forgives our 
sin, but he washes it away, and makes it as 
if it had never been. " Though your sins be 
as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; 
though they be red like crimson, they shall 
be as wool." (Is. i. 18.) " The blood of Jesus 
Christ cleanseth us from all sin." (1 John 

We must never suffer ourselves to doubt, 
much less to despair of God's mercy. Such 
doubts are amongst Satan's favorite weapons. 
"How many times have you asked forgive- 
ness for this very sin already," he whispers; 
" How many times have you professed repent- 
ance, and promised never to commit it 
more ? Is it not presumption, yea, mockery, 
to ask God to forgive you again ? " Do not 
for a moment listen to him. What are you 
going to do if you do not ask ? You will cer- 
tainly never be rid of your sin in any other 
way than by God's help, and how are you to 
obtain that help but by coming to Him ? He 
who bade us forgive an erring brother, not 
seven times, but seventy times seven, is not 



Forgiveness. 19 

likely to be less merciful Himself. "There is 
more grace in God than there is sin in all the 
sinners that ever lived," said an aged saint 
of God when this matter was under discus- 
sion; and he was right. But are we not in 
danger of presumption in thus believing that 
God is ready to forgive, however many times 
we sin against Him ? Not if we are sincere 
and honest in our repentance, and in our 
hatred of sin. It would, indeed, be the great- 
est of presumption to go en willfully indulg- 
ing in sin on such grounds. The person who 
did so would be a hypocrite. His repent- 
ance would be no more than a pretence, 
and his profession a mockery and a lie. But 
to the honest penitent, I believe nothing 
can be more calculated to humble him in the 
very dust with a sense of his own unworthi- 
ness than the conviction that, after all his 
vileness and ingratitude, his Heavenly Father 
has pardoned him, and taken him again into 
favor. " And I will establish my covenant 
with thee, and thou shalt know that I am 
the Lord," says God to the rebellious and 
polluted daughter of Jerusalem, after enum- 
erating all her horrible offenses ; and He 
adds these significant words: "That thou 
mayest remember, and be confounded, and 



20 First Friday in Lent. 

never open thy mouth any more, when I am 
pacified towards thee for all the evil that thou 
hast done, saith the Lord." (Ezek. xvi. 63.) 

Shall we, in the face of such gracious and 
glorious promises as these, dare to doubt 
the goodness and mercy of our Father ? Shall 
we bring the burden of our sins to Him who 
has covenanted by His justice, as well as by 
His mercy and love, to blot out our trans- 
gressions for His own sake, and not remem- 
ber our sins, and then take up that burden 
and carry it away again ? Shall our doubts 
make Him a liar? Surely, this is presumption, 
and not the humble faith which trusts in Him, 
and takes Him at His word. Let us then 
rejoice in the belief that our Heavenly 
Father has pardoned and cleansed us accord- 
ing to His immutable word — that our un- 
righteousness is forgiven and our sin is cov- 
ered, and that to us the Lord does not 
impute sin. (Ps. xxxii. 1,2.) So shall we find 
that peace which the world knows not, and 
can never know, and that joy in which it has 
no part. So shall we have all our wounds 
healed, and find strength to fight the good 
fight of faith in the time to come. " For the 
joy of the Lord is your strength." (Neh.vii. 10.) 

Psalm xxxii. 1 John. 



Consecration. 2 1 



FIRST SATURDAY IN LENT 

CONSECRATION. 

What is consecration ? 

It is setting apart. When a building, as a 
church, is consecrated to the worship of 
God, we understand that it is set apart for 
His worship, and is not to be put to any- 
other use. When a bishop is consecrated, he is 
set apart from worldly business for his sacred 
office, and he is expected to give up all his 
time and talents to the duties of that office. 

In the same way, a truly consecrated 
Christian is one who has given himself up 
wholly to the service of God, his Creator, 
Redeemer, and Sanctifier — who aims to 
please not himself, but God, in all he says, 
does, and thinks. His time, his talents, his 
worldly goods, his position and influence, 
his very amusements, are used for the ser- 
vice of God, and he is ready to give up his 
most cherished pursuit as soon as he is made 
aware that it is not pleasing to his Heavenly 
Master. 



22 First Saturday in Le?it. 

We find in Holy Scripture abundant war- 
rant for such consecration. " What, know 
ye not that your body is the temple of the 
Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have 
of God ? And ye are not your own, for ye 
are bought with a price; therefore glorify 
God in your bodies, and in your spirits, which 
are His." (i Cor. vi. 19, 20.) " For no man 
liveth to himself, and no man dieth to him- 
self. For whether we live, we live unto the 
Lord, and whether we die, we die unto the 
Lord. Whether we live, therefore, or die, we 
are the Lord's." (Rom. xiv. 7, 8.) In this 
chapter, be it observed, the Apostle is speak- 
ing of so common a matter as eating and 
drinking, and he says, again, " Whether ye 
eat or drink, or whatever ye do, do all to 
the glory of God." (1 Cor. x. 31.) Again, 
" I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of 
God, that ye present your bodies a living 
sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which 
is your reasonable service." (Rom. xii. 1.) 

The Church teaches us the same lesson in 
her most solemn act of worship. " And 
here we offer and present unto Thee, O 
Lord, ourselves, our souls and bodies," is 
the language of the prayer of consecration 
in the office of the Holy Communion. The 



Consecration. 23 

same thought is found repeated again and 
again in the Prayer-book, notably in the 
collects for the fourth and fifth Sundays after 
Easter. Every Communion Sunday, if we 
are worthy communicants, we make, or rather 
renew, this consecration of ourselves to our 
Lord. 

But in order to make this consecration 
acceptable to God, or useful to ourselves, it 
must be entire and perfect. We must not 
follow the example of Ananias and Sapphira, 
in professing to give all, and then keeping 
back a part. So long as we " keep back 
part of the price," so long as we hold fast to 
anything we know we ought to give up, or 
hold ourselves back from any duty we know 
we ought to perform, so long is our offering 
imperfect — unpleasing to God, and unprofit- 
able to ourselves. " Cursed be the deceiver 
that hath in his flock a male, and voweth 
and sacrificeth to the Lord a corrupt thing," 
said the prophet to the Jews after the captiv- 
ity. (Mai. i. 14.) Their God had redeemed 
them from captivity worse than death, had 
brought them to their own land once more, 
and restored to them their old religious priv- 
ileges, yet they reckoned His service weari- 
ness, and grudged to give of their best for 



24 First Saturday in Lent. 

His offering. Our Lord has redeemed us 
from a worse bondage than theirs, and has 
bought us with a great price, even with the 
suffering and death of His dear Son, and shall 
we grudge to give Him that which is His 
own ? 

The want of this perfect consecration is 
the reason why so many Christian people 
have no comfort in their devotion. Old- 
fashioned Methodist people used to employ 
a significant phrase in this connection. They 
would ask, " Do you enjoy religion ? " Too 
many, it is to be feared, do not enjoy it at 
all. They seem to have just enough to 
make them uncomfortable. " I feel as if it 
were of no use for me to pray," said one; 
" my prayers never seem to get out of the 
room, and my heart is cold and heavy. I 
have no sense of the Lord's presence at all." 
"Are you sure," asked her friend, "that 
you are indulging no sin, or neglecting no 
known duty ? " After a moment's pause 
came the question, "Do you think such a 
thing is wrong?" "Whatever I think, I 
know what you think," was her friend's in- 
ward answer. 

Our God is a jealous God ! He will not 
share His temple with another. If we would 



Consecration. 25 

have Him dwelling in our hearts, we must 
banish thence every idol, and every unclean 
and even doubtful thing. For we must 
remember that if we think any act wrong, or 
even doubtful, that act becomes a sin to us. 
This is true especially of amusements and 
pleasures of all sorts. He who risks God's 
anger for the sake of a personal gratification, 
is guilty of presumptuous sin. 

If, then, you find your religious state un- 
satisfactory, your prayers lifeless, your sacra- 
mental seasons without comfort or enjoy- 
ment, your heart heavy under a secret sense 
of condemnation, let me beg you to examine 
yourself, and see if the trouble does not lie 
just here — that you are keeping back some- 
thing that your Lord requires of you. And 
if, on an honest search, you find that He 
calls on you to give up some indulgence to 
which you are holding fast, or to take up 
some duty which you have hitherto neglect- 
ed, let me beg of you to obey on the instant; 
whatever be the cost, break the idol, banish 
the intruder, take up the duty, and, so doing, 
find peace to your soul. 

Mai. i. Rom. xii. 



26 First Sunday in Lent. 



FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT. 

FASTING. 

The special service for this day sets be- 
fore us, as the subject of our meditation, our 
Lord's fast in the wilderness. The collect 
is founded on it. " O Lord, who for our sakes 
didst fast forty days!" The Gospel for the 
day sets forth the story of the same fast, and 
of the temptation which followed. 

It was for our sake that the Blessed Jesus 
fasted. His sinless nature had no need of 
such discipline. But He was " to be tempt- 
ed in all points like as we are," that we 
might know that " we have not a High 
Priest who cannot be touched with the feel- 
ing of our infirmities." (Heb. iv. 15.) "For 
in that He Himself hath suffered being 
tempted, He is able to succor them that are 
tempted." (Heb. ii. 18.) Let us, with rev- 
erence and godly fear, consider a few of 
the circumstances of His fasting and tempta- 
tion. 

It was immediately after our Lord's bap- 



Fasting. 2J 

tism, and the wonderful manifestation of 
the Divine Glory in confirmation of His 
claims, that He was " led up of the Spirit 
into the wilderness to be tempted of the 
Devil." After the privilege came the 
temptation. If we consider our own ex- 
perience, we shall often find this to be the 
case with ourselves. How often, after a 
season of more than usual earnestness and 
enjoyment in devotion, does the heart seem 
to go back with a rebound, as it were, to the 
vanities of the world ! How often, after an 
act of honest renunciation, does the thing 
we have given up paint itself to our fancy 
in more attractive colors than ever, till we 
think ourselves little better than hypocrites, 
and are ready to give up in despair! 

But we have no reason to despair. Nay, 
we may, if we use them aright, make our very 
temptations means of grace, drawing from 
them both encouragement and strength — 
encouragement, because Satan would not 
take so much. pains to draw us aside if he 
did not see that we were escaping from his 
power ; strength, if we let our trials make 
us more watchful against sin, and more 
earnest in our prayers for help. 

Our Lord's first temptation came through 



28 First Sunday in Lent. 

the medium of His bodily wants. He was 
exhausted from fasting; and Satan, as is 
usual with him, attacked him on what he be- 
lieved his weak point. " If thou be the Son 
of God, command that these stones be made 
bread." (S. Matt. iv. 3.) He often assaults 
us in the same way. "You are tired and 
hungry," he says; " you have a right to be ir- 
ritable." " You are an invalid; you have the 
right to be exacting, and to make the com- 
fort of others give way to yours." " You are 
sleepless, and in pain ; you have a right to 
take the drug which will give you present 
ease and rest, whatever may be the con- 
sequence." Let us answer as did our Lord: 
" Man shall not live by bread alone." Let 
us remember that the body is to be the 
servant, not the master, and treat it accord- 
ingly. There are no persons who need to 
practice self-control more than invalids, and 
especially nervous invalids. 

Again, our Lord did not make use of His 
divine power against the tempter. He used 
weapons which are within the reach of every 
one of us. He met Satan with the words of 
Holy Scripture. And in this very fact, by 
the way, may be found an answer to those 
who decry and undervalue the Old Testa- 



Fasting. 29 

ment. Every one of our Lord's quotations is 
taken from the book of Deuteronomy. And 
we may furnish ourselves, if we will, with 
weapons from the same celestial armory. 
Does Satan attack us through our bodily 
weakness ? " My grace is sufficient for thee, 
for my strength is made perfect in weak- 
ness." (2 Cor. xii. 9.) Does he beset us 
with doubts as to the forgiveness of our sins, 
or acceptance with God ? Every disciple 
has, like Christian in the Pilgrim's Progress, 
" a key in his bosom, which will open any 
lock in Doubting Castle." Hence the im- 
portance of making ourselves very familiar 
with the weapons which St. Paul calls " the 
sword of the Spirit," and of having it, as it 
were, always at our side. A man might have 
the best weapon in the world in his posses- 
sion, but it would stand him in little stead 
when attacked, if he did not know how to 
use it, or if he had left it hanging up in his 
closet at home. But if we store our mem- 
ories with the very words of the Bible, and 
meditate often thereon, we shall have sword 
and shield always at hand. I shall have 
more to say on this matter hereafter. 

Once more, temptation, valorously with- 
stood, is followed by peace. " Then the 



30 First Monday in Lent. 

Devil leaveth Him, and behold, angels came, 
and ministered unto Him." (S. Matt. iv. 11.) 
" Our Lord will not suffer us to be tempted 
above that we are able." (i Cor. x. 18.) 
Satan may rage, but his rage is restrained 
by one stronger than he, and after the storm 
comes a calm Then come to us, as to the 
pilgrim, some of the leaves of the tree of 
life, to heal our wounds, and if the white 
robe has contracted any stain in the strife, 
there is opened the fountain for sin and un- 
cleanness, where we may wash and be clean. 
(Zech. xiii. I.) We must still be on our 
guard, and have our weapons at hand, but 
our Captain allows us a breathing-time, and 
He will himself come and talk with us as we 
rest by the way. 

Ps. xlvi. S. Matt. iii. 



FIRST MONDAY IN LENT. 

FASTING. 

WHAT is fasting ? 

In its broadest sense it is self-denial. As 
generally used by our Church, it means 
abstinence in some shape — either from 



Fasting. 3 1 

amusement, from food, or from personal 
luxuries. The Romish Church makes it to 
consist mostly in refraining from meat, espe- 
cially during Lent; but that is a narrow view 
of the matter, and one which admits of a 
great deal of personal indulgence. The 
early Church made no distinction in quality 
of food, and the most scrupulous did not 
hesitate to eat meat when needful. Our own 
branch of the Church lays down no definite 
rules on the subject of fasting, either in Lent 
or at any other time, but, with her usual 
wisdom and liberality, leaves the matter to 
each person's conscience. 

It has been remarked that there is no ab- 
solute command to fast in the New Testa- 
ment. Our Lord, however, implicitly sanc- 
tions and approves the practice by His 
example, and by giving directions as to how 
the duty is to be performed (S. Matt. vi. 
16), and by His words to the Pharisees (S. 
Mark ii. 19) ; and it is commended by the 
practice of the Apostles. (Acts iii. 2, 3, 
and xiv. 23.) Our Lord tells us that fast- 
ing, like prayer, should be performed without 
ostentation, and this is the only direction 
given on the subject. 

The law of Moses appoints only one fast, 



32 First Monday in Lent. 

that of the great day of atonement (Lev. 
xxiii. 27), but we find in the Old Testament 
numerous examples of fasts, usually on occa- 
sion of some great danger or calamity (2 
Chron. xx. 3; Joel ii), or of some danger- 
ous enterprise. In the writings of the 
prophets, also, we find many allusions to 
fasting as a common practice, and also direc- 
tions as to the spirit in which it should be 
performed. 

Our Church observes all Fridays through- 
out the year as fast days, and also the forty 
days before Easter. This last season, called 
Lent (probably from the Saxon word for 
Spring), is that with which we are specially 
concerned at present. How, then, shall we 
keep Lent ? 

The Church answers this question, to some 
extent, by her multiplied services and frequent 
Communions — by the opportunities which 
she gives us of social worship. Let us avail 
ourselves of this privilege as far as possible, 
by being frequently in the sanctuary, and 
by joining heartily in the prayers and praises 
of God's people. Let us be early in our 
places, that our spirits may be quieted, and 
our hearts attuned by some minutes of prayer 
and meditation, before the service begins. 



Fasting. 33 

The quiet and the association of the place 
are specially favorable to such exercises. 
Many people find an advantage in reading 
some devotional book at this time, such as 
Thomas a Kempis, or the Sacra Privata, and 
this is a good plan, provided always that the 
book be used as a guide to meditation, and 
not as a substitute for it. As a rule, we read 
too much and think too little. 

Our prayers should be not only for our- 
selves, but for our fellow-worshippers, and 
for all the interests of our own Church and 
the Church at large. Let us remember our 
families, the guild or society to which we be- 
long, our god-children and pupils in Sunday- 
school, the missionary enterprises of our 
own parish and those of the Church. We 
shall find that a few minutes spent in this 
way, on entering church, will compose 
our minds, and add tenfold to the comfort 
and usefulness of the service which follows. 

Many sincere Christians are troubled with 
wandering thoughts in time of prayer, and 
especially of public service. I have always 
found great assistance in keeping my eyes 
fixed on the book, following every word of 
the service. Such wandering thoughts are 
like dogs which run out and bark at us in the 



34 First Monday in Lent. 

street — the best way is to go straight on and 
take no notice of them. But as an old au- 
thor has said, the best way to govern our 
thoughts in prayer is to be in the habit of 
governing them at all other times. 

When service is over, let us not be in a 
hurry to rise from our knees, but let us again 
spend a few moments in secret devotion. I 
much like the custom of the congregation 
remaining in their seats or standing till the 
minister leaves the chancel. And let us 
strive, above all, to carry with us through the 
day the influence of the blessed services in 
which we have been engaged. The Psalms 
or the Lessons will have furnished us with 
some food for meditation, to which our minds 
may turn in the intervals of business, and 
from which we may draw counsel and com- 
fort, and 

"at evening we may say, 
I have walked with God to-day." 

Is. lxiii. S. Mark vi. 



How Shall We Keep Lent ? 35 



FIRST TUESDAY IN LENT. 

HOW SHALL WE KEEP LENT? 

YOU say, perhaps, " I am shut up — confined 
to the room or the house," or, " I am away 
from the church and its worship. I cannot 
join in the services, however much I should 
like to do so." 

This is a mistake, and a very unfortunate 
one, which is likely to deprive the person 
making it of much spiritual growth as well 
as comfort. No one needs the helps which 
the Church holds out to her children more 
than those who are shut away from the more 
public means of grace. We are too apt to 
think of the Church, not as the one Body of 
Christ, but as a mass of disconnected 
parishes and individuals. You are as much 
a member of the Church at large when you 
are a thousand miles away from her services, 
or when you are kept helpless on your bed, 
as though you were in the heart of a great 
cathedral city, with opportunities of attend- 
ing a grand service every day. 



36 First Tuesday in Lent. 

It is one of the blessings of our inestimable 
book of Common Prayer that it enables us to 
join in the prayers and praises of those who 
are able to attend public worship. If from 
illness or any other cause you are kept from 
going to church, let me ask you to take the 
Prayer-book, and follow the service in your 
own room. Read the proper Psalms and 
Lessons, and, that you may do so, keep your- 
self in mind of all the Church days and sea- 
sons. This is easily done in these days of 
cheap almanacs and wall calendars. Do not, 
if you can help it, let one day pass without 
reading at least one of the proper Lessons for 
the day, and one of the Psalms, and using 
some part of the appointed prayers. You 
will never appreciate as you should the 
wonderful beauty of our service, and its suit- 
ableness to your spiritual needs, till you learn 
to use it in your private devotions. 

But in order to this appreciation, we must 
guard against formality, and carelessness. 
Let us study the service, and commit it to 
memory ; especially the collects, those 
wonderful jewels of devotion, which shine the 
more the more they are looked at and used. 
I can testify, from my own experience, to the 
value of this practice to the sick and feeble. 



How Shall We Keep Lent ? 37 

Many times, when oppressed by pain and 
weakness, or vexed and distracted by nerv- 
ous irritation, unable to frame a sentence, 
or to put even into thought the desires and 
griefs of a burdened heart, have I found un- 
speakable comfort and help in the dear, 
familiar words which came almost without an 
effort, and expressed the longings of my soul 
better than any words of my own. 

Let me beg of you, then, dear shut-in and 
shut-out brothers and sisters, to make bosom 
friends and companions of your prayer-books. 
Let them be always at hand, and never, if 
you can help it, omit using a part at least 
of the service for the day. This will require 
some effort and self-denial, but this very 
effort and self-denial will do you good, and 
are exercises most suitable to the season. 

Believe me, if you will but follow the prac- 
tice through one Lenten season, you will 
never again willingly omit it. 

Ps. lxxxiv. Eph. iv. 1-17. 



38 Second Wednesday in Lent. 



SECOND WEDNESDA YIN' LENT. 

ABSTINENCE. 

We have already seen that fasting, in its 
broad sense, means self denial, and in the 
ordinary sense, abstinence. In this latter 
sense it is used in the collect for the day. 
Now abstinence, we all know, means " going 
without something," and the question to be 
settled by each one of us is, " What shall we 
do without ? " 

The Church, always discreet and liberal 
in her requirements, lays down no rules in 
this matter, but leaves it to the judgment 
and conscience of each individual of her chil- 
dren. We are to be, not without law, but a 
law unto ourselves. One may abstain in 
matters of food, another of some favorite oc- 
cupation or amusement, such, for instance, 
as light reading or fancy work, or a favorite 
game. Another will take time from his bus- 
iness or pleasure for devotional reading, or 
for some work of charity. 

We are to be a law unto ourselves, but let 



A bstinence. 39 

our rule be a law. Do not let the matter be 
left to chance, or the impulse of the moment. 
" Let every man be fully persuaded in his 
own mind," said St. Paul, speaking of a 
somewhat similar matter. (Rom. xiv. 5.) 
He is writing to the Christians of Rome, 
many of whom had been Jews, and still found 
their consciences burdened at times by the 
requirements of ceremonial law. " One," he 
says, " believeth that he may eat all things; 
another, who is weak, eateth only herbs; one 
esteemeth one day above another; another 
esteemeth every day alike." But however 
that might be, every one was enjoined to be 
" fully persuaded in his own mind," and not 
to act against that persuasion — that is,against 
the leading of his own conscience. 

Having, then, laid down a rule — having de- 
cided on that measure of abstinence which 
wp deem best for ourselves — let us adhere to 
that standard, however we may be tempted 
to depart from it. For instance, if you de- 
cide to give some particular part of the day 
to devotional reading or study — a very ex- 
cellent practice — do not let every little mat- 
ter, especially of your own convenience, di- 
vert you from your object. If you decide to 
abstain from light reading, hold fast to your 



40 Second Wednesday in Lent. 

resolution in the face of the most fascinating 
and bepraised novel. Unless you do thus 
adhere to them, your rules will be burdens 
and temptations instead of helps. 

There is another and a very important 
point to be considered in this matter of 
amusements. In the very chapter that we 
have been quoting, St. Paul says: " If meat 
make my brother to offend, I will eat no 
meat while the world stands." The church 
man or woman who is seen at the opera or 
theatre during Lent must not be surprised 
if he hears his religious profession lightly 
spoken of by worldly associates. The Sun- 
day-school teacher or Girls' Friendly Asso- 
ciate who so indulges must not complain of 
the pupil or member who follows her ex- 
ample. A visitor in a certain house was 
amazed, on entering the parlor on Good 
Friday evening, to find two whist tables in 
operation, both occupied by church members 
who had attended service in the morning. 
The visitor was not surprised at the remark 
of a Roman Catholic servant: " Well, they 
don't think much of the day, whatever' they 
may pretend." And certainly the spectacle 
was not an edifying one to those who made 
no religious profession whatever. " All things 



In the Sick-room. 41 

may be lawful for me, but all things are not 
expedient," and it is hard to see how anyone 
who desires to use this holy season as the 
Church intended it to be used can spend 
time and money on expensive amusements. 
Believe me, it is a bad symptom in the spirit- 
ual life when a Christian is thinking, not 
how much he can give up for his Lord, but 
how much he dares keep for himself. 
Is. lviii. 1 Cor. x. 



SECOND THURSDAY IN LENT. 
IN THE SICK-ROOM. 

"I AM an invalid," says some one; "I 
never go either to the theatre or opera ; I 
never attend a party, or partake of any pub- 
lic amusement; hardly indeed, of any amuse- 
ment at all. How shall I keep Lent ?" 

In the ftrst place, so far as possible, get 
out of your world into God's world. I have 
been an invalid for months and years at a 
time, and I have seen a great deal of illness, 
so I am not speaking at random. The great 
temptation of a chronic invalid is to make 
the world centre in himself. The great in- 



\2 Second Thursday in Lent. 

terests of mankind, and of the Church, chari- 
table, and mission work, and Christian work 
of every kind, are of no importance compared 
to the position of a table or the serving of a 
meal. We almost forget that these things 
have any existence, or that we as individuals 
have anything to do with them. I do not 
mean to say that all chronic invalids are 
irritable or selfish ; I must say frankly that I 
have seen quite as much of these qualities in 
nurses as in patients. But it is perfectly 
natural — nay, it is unavoidable — when one is 
shut up in a small space, to make that space 
and its arrangements of great importance. 
They are very important, and a kind and 
faithful nurse will take care that no untidi- 
ness or carelessness shall offend the eye ; 
that the book or work or glass of drink shall 
not be moved and set down just out of reach; 
that the door shall not be left ajar to slam, 
or the window to rattle. Such carelessness 
is often nothing less than cruelty. 

But making all allowances, I still say to 
the invalid, get out of your little world into 
the great world as often as possible. Recol- 
lect that you are still a member of Christ's 
living body, and as such there must still be 
some work for you to do. Especially at this 



In the Sick-room. 43 

season, consider if there is not some way 
whereby you may help the Church in her 
great work of converting the world. 

I would earnestly advise you to turn your 
attention to the subject of missions at home 
and abroad. If you are able to read, subscribe 
for the Spirit of Missions and read it all 
through. An excellent old Presbyterian lady 
once said that when she got her missionary 
paper she "just sat down and prayed right 
through it." Do you likewise, and at the same 
time consider how wonderful is this instru- 
ment of prayer, by which, in your chamber, 
you can reach the overworked man or woman 
toiling in China or Africa. You will soon find 
that your interest in the work grows as you 
learn more about it. You will find yourself 
looking out for news from particular stations 
and people, and thinking of Miss Wong and 
her orphans, and Miss Somebody Else and her 
Indians or Freedmen, as if they were per- 
sonal friends. 

Do not be content, however, with reading 
and praying. Try to do something. Many 
invalids are able to do more or less light 
work with their fingers, and find great com- 
fort in it. Now at this time let your work 
be consecrated in a special manner. Lay 



44 Second Thursday in Lent. 

aside the fancy work, for something practical 
and useful. Let the drawn work give way 
to the hospital towel, and the knitted lace 
to the hospital sock. Even if you can do 
but little, let that little be done faithfully 
and as regularly as possible, and the Lord of 
the harvest will bless your gleanings as much 
as the full sheaves of the stalwart reaper in 
the field. 

If you are earnest in watching for oppor- 
tunities you may also practice self-denial in 
other ways. Are there no little luxuries 
that you can do without, and so add a few 
cents or dollars to your charity-purse ? Can- 
not the orange, or bunch of grapes, or bottle 
of cologne be sent to some poor body who 
keeps Lent all the year round ? Is there no 
service which you have been in the habit of 
requiring from an attendant, and which, by a 
little effort, you may perform for yourself ? 
When a visitor comes in, can you not turn 
the conversation from your own aches and 
pains to something more pleasant and profit- 
able ? All these things are self-denials, and, 
if used in the right spirit, will bring their 
reward — a present reward in improved 
cheerfulness, and so, often, in improved bodily 
health ; a lasting reward in growth in grace, 



The Use of Fasting. 45 

and in that holiness which shall make you 
more fit for that world where there is no 
more any pain, because the former things 
are passed away. 

Psalm lxxvii. Rev. vii. 9-17. 



SECOND FRIDAY IN LENT. 

THE USE OF FASTING. 

What is the use of fasting ? 

The answer to this question is given in the 
collect which has formed the text of our 
meditations for the week. "That our flesh 
being subdued to the spirit, we may obey 
Thy godly motions in righteousness and true 
holiness. 

The flesh, as the term is usually employ- 
ed in Scripture, means the lower and earthly 
part of our nature. It is that part of us to 
which almost all the pleasures of sense 
address themselves. St. Paul tells us that 
they who are in the flesh — they who live for 
it alone — cannot please God (Rom. viii. 8) ; 
and he gives the reason, because they that 
are after the flesh do mind the things of the 
flesh. 



46 Second Friday in Lent. 

The flesh, that is, as we have said, the 
lower part of our nature, has neither belief 
nor interest in anything but what can be 
seen and heard, and handled with hands. 
It cares for nothing but the things which be- 
long to time, and must therefore perish with 
time. The invisible things which are eternal, 
and therefore the only real things, are as 
nothing to the man of the flesh, or at best 
but the idle dreams of enthusiasts. This 
being the case, it is easy to see why they 
who are in the flesh cannot please God. 

Now this earthly and carnal nature, which 
is here called the flesh, remains in every 
one of us. We are all more or less under its 
influence. We are all prone to let the seen 
and temporal hide from our thoughts the 
unseen and eternal. The wants of the body 
are ^imperative, and must be provided for, 
and with these needs are apt to come lusts. 
The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and 
the pride of life are all intimately connected 
with real needs, and take on their names 
and faces. 

Our bodies are useful servants, but bad 
and hard masters, and they are always striv- 
ing to get the upper hand, and govern where 
they ought to obey. Therefore it is needful 



The Use of Fasting. 47 

to rule them with a strong hand. St. Paul 
says, " I keep under my body, and bring it 
into subjection"; that is, literally, " I buffet it 
with blows, and treat it as a slave," and he 
gives us the reason for this conduct, " lest 
that by any means, when I have preached 
to others, I myself should be a castaway. 
(1 Cor. ix. 27.) The Scriptures, especially the 
Epistles, are full of warnings on this sub- 
ject. " If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die : 
but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the 
deeds of the body ye shall live." (Rom. 
viii. 13.) 

The flesh is to be subdued to the spirit ; 
to our own immortal spirit, and to the Holy 
Spirit. To our own spirit, because that is 
the part of us which is nearly related to God, 
capable of communion with Him, and even 
of being partaker of the Divine Nature (11 
Pet. i. 4); to the Holy Spirit, because He 
is our Divine Guide and Comforter. The 
flesh is to be made thus subject, that it may 
know its place and be silent and quiet before 
its betters, that its voice may not hinder the 
voice of God. It must be taught to obey, 
that it may be the servant and not the mas- 
ter. And as soldiers are drilled in time of 
peace, when no enemy is at hand, that they 



48 Second Saturday in Lent. 

may be ready and skillful in time of war, so 
our bodies may well be trained and brought 
under discipline, that in the time of trial they 
may be helps and not hindrances in running 
the race which is set before us. 

Is. xxxii. 1 Cor. ix. 



SECOND SATURDAY IN LENT. 

DANGERS AND MISTAKES. 

There are two or three dangers and mis- 
takes connected with this subject, which we 
shall do well to consider. 

The first is the danger of spiritual pride — 
of considering our self-denials as good works, 
whereby we acquire merit, and, so to speak, 
bring God in debt to us. One would think, 
at first sight, that no well-instructed Chris- 
tian was in any such peril, yet a very slight 
acquaintance with history will show the 
painful absurdities which have grown out of 
this idea, and the mischief and waste to which 
it has led. 

It is very hard for a man to take in the 
idea that he cannot deserve anything of God 
by his good works; that all his righteous- 



Dangers and Mistakes. 49 

nesses are as filthy rags, and that after his 
very best is done, he is but an unprofitable 
servant, doing no more than his duty; that 
he must accept salvation, if at all, as an 
absolutely free gift. His pride revolts at the 
idea. He does not like to feel that he is only 
a beggar. Hence the tendency, of which 
every faithful and experienced Christian is 
more or less conscious, to magnify his own 
good works, if not in the eyes of others, yet 
in his own secret soul. Pride is a subtle 
enemy, and never more to be dreaded than 
when it takes the form of that spiritual pride 
which apes humility. From this root have 
grown all sorts of noxious weeds; especially 
those exhibitions of self-torture which so 
revolt common sense in the lives of so-called 
saints — the pillar of Simon Stylites, the five 
orange seeds a day of Rose of Lima, and the 
like. Neither by precept nor example do 
the Scriptures countenance any such prac- 
tices. On the contrary, our Lord's injunc- 
tions seem directed expressly against them. 
(S. Matt. vi. 16-18.) 

Another danger to be guarded against is 

that of despising the body, as if it were of no 

account. The body is to be subject to the 

spirit, no doubt. It is a servant, and is to 

4 



50 Second Saturday in Lent. 

be kept to a servant's place, even by severe 
discipline if need be, but it is to be kept in 
health and strength, that it may serve well 
its master. It is the tool of the spirit, and 
must be kept in good working order. He 
would be a foolish master who should so treat 
his tools or his servants as to disable them 
from work. 

Our bodies are to be treated with respect 
because they are God's temples, in which it 
pleases Him to dwell. " Know ye not that 
your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, 
which is in you ? " says the Apostle (i Cor. 
vi. 19); and again, " Know ye not that ye are 
the Temple of God, and that the spirit of 
God dwelleth in you ?" and he adds, " If any 
man defile the temple of God, him will God 
destroy." (1 Cor. iii. 16.) From these con- 
siderations, it may be easily seen that those 
persons are guilty of sin who are willfully 
careless of the body; who for the sake of 
dress or amusement, or indulgence of any 
sort, injure their health and lessen their 
powers of usefulness. 

Once more: The body is to be treated 
with respect because it has a share in our 
redemption. True, it is subject to decay and 
death. True, for a time it must molder in 



Helplessness and Help. 5.1 

the dust, but it shall be raised again, and 
united to its kindred spirit, freed from all 
taint of sin and corruption. True, it is sown 
in dishonor and weakness, but it shall be 
raised in glory and power, to inherit immor- 
tality. 

Job xiv. I Cor. iii. 



SECOND SUN DA Y IN LENT. 
HELPLESSNESS AND HELP. 

The collect for this day is especially a 
prayer for help ; help for body and soul. The 
suppliant's plea is his helplessness. We 
have no power of ourselves to help ourselves, 
and so we turn to Him who is both able 
and willing to help us. 

It is to be wished that Christians in gen- 
eral realized more fully their dependence 
upon God. We all go to Him for help in 
great matters — in deep afflictions, in strong 
temptations; but in the little things of every- 
day life, we forget or neglect to call upon 
Him; and it is in these very little things that 
we are defeated and overthrown by our ever- 
watchful enemy. " He that despiseth little 



52 Second Sunday in Lent. 

things shall fall by little and little," said a 
wise man ; and no truer word was ever 
spoken. It is the small temptation which 
makes way for the great one. It is the mis- 
step which prepares for the fall. 

Take an example : Theodore wakes in the 
morning feeling rather unwell and out of 
sorts. He has perhaps overslept when he 
wished to wake early, and is hurried in con- 
sequence. Proceeding to dress, he finds a 
button off, or a stud misplaced ; a real vex- 
ation, though a small one ; but Theodore 
never thinks of asking for help in such a 
matter as that. He would perhaps re- 
gard such a prayer as almost a mockery. 
The bell rings before he is ready, and he 
has, or thinks he has, no time for morning 
devotions. By the time he reaches his office, 
he is in a thoroughly bad humor, and ready 
to vent his annoyance on the first person 
who comes across him. 

When Theodore reviews the events of the 
day, he is obliged to confess that he has 
made a sad failure. He sees, with shame, 
that he has been unjust and unkind ; that 
he has, perhaps, offended one of God's little 
ones, or put a stone of stumbling in the way 
of someone whom he is trying to influence 



Helplessness and Help. 53 

for good. He confesses his sin with penitence 
and shame, but it does not occur to him to 
trace the trouble to its source — the failing 
to seek for help against the first temptation. 

Oh that all of us, who profess and call our- 
selves Christians, could come to realize in 
our inmost souls, that in us, that is, in our 
flesh, dwells no good thing ; that in very 
deed we have no power of ourselves to help 
ourselves in great things or small ! It is 
a thought humbling to human pride, no 
doubt, but it is true. Every good thing, 
every good gift, is from above, and cometh 
down from the Father of lights (James i. 
17), and thrives in the soil of this lower 
world only by careful cultivation. Spiritual 
strength, and the power to resist temptation, 
are no exception to this rule. They must 
come from above, in the first place, and they 
must be continually watered from above if 
they are to live. You might better set a 
willow-tree in the midst of the great Ameri- 
can Desert, and expect it to grow there 
without irrigation, as to expect any Chris- 
tian grace or virtue to live in your heart 
without constant watering from the Divine 
Fountain, which gave it life in the first place. 

This fact of our utter helplessness to do 



54 Second Sunday i?i Lent. 

the least good thing of ourselves would be 
very discouraging ; would, indeed, lead us to 
utter despair if it stood alone. But God is 
all-knowing, and He sees that we have no 
power of ourselves to help ourselves. He is 
almighty. Nothing is too hard for Him. All 
things are in His hand, from the whole 
visible universe to the least grain which 
helps to make it ; from the highest arch- 
angel to the tiny baby which was christened 
yesterday, and whose christening robe was 
also its burial dress. Nothing is too great 
for His power, nothing too small for his care 
and love. He is our Father. He loves each 
one of His children as much as if that child 
were the only one, and He has laid up for 
each one such good things as pass man's 
understanding. 

And this all-powerful, all-loving God 
knows all our needs and all our weakness. 
" He knoweth whereof we are made ; He re- 
membereth that we are but dust." (Ps. ciii. 
14.) He sees that we have no power of our- 
selves to help ourselves, and His help is 
always ready. Yea, the whole power of 
Almighty God is enlisted on the side of the 
weakest child who is trying to please Him. 
But He will not force His help on any one. 



Evil Thoughts and Their Remedy. 55 

His hand is always held out, but we are free 
to lay hold on it or not, as we will. We may 
neglect or slight His offers if we choose, but 
we must take the consequences. We may, 
if we please, kindle a fire for ourselves, and 
try to walk in the light of it ; but this shall 
we have of His hand : we shall lie down in 
sorrow. (Isa. 1. 11.) 

Isa. li. S. John x. 19. 



SECOND MONDA Y IN LENT. 

EVIL THOUGHTS AND THEIR 
REMEDY. 

EVERY Christian knows what it is to be 
troubled with evil thoughts. Bunyan, than 
whom no uninspired man was ever better 
acquainted with the human heart, makes it 
one of his Pilgrim's trials that he bore away 
with him from the City of Destruction some 
of those things that he was conversant with- 
al, especially his inward and carnal cogita- 
tions; and he adds, sorrowfully, " If I had my 
way, I would never think of those things 
more, but when I would do good, evil is 
present with me." 



56 Second Monday in Lent. 

How often is his experience ours ! How 
many times we find ourselves haunted with 
what we would fain forget ! Some one offers 
us an affront. We have no desire to cherish 
a grudge, and perhaps we make an act 
of forgiveness on the spot ; but all day 
long the scornful word or the unkind act 
haunts our memory, and Satan conspires 
with the traitor in our own hearts to magnify 
the offense, and to suggest thoughts of 
malice and revenge. We are denied some 
pleasure or indulgence that others enjoy, 
and to which we think, perhaps, that we have 
a better right than they, and we dwell upon 
the matter, magnifying the forbidden pleas- 
ure or advantage till it becomes a dark fog, 
blotting out every pleasant prospect and 
shutting us up in measureless discontent. 

I believe that invalids are particularly 
subject to this kind of temptation. The 
horizon of the sick person is narrow at the 
best, and a small cloud suffices to obscure it. 
Moreover, there are certain disorders which 
seem of themselves particularly favorable to 
evil thoughts. The patient is, or fancies 
himself, neglected or forgotten. He is 
tempted to envy those better off than him- 
self. He thinks of all the good work he has 



Evil Thoughts and Their Remedy. 57 

done, and of all he might do, and he is 
tempted to think hardly of the Master, who 
seems to have rejected his service. These 
and still darker thoughts beset the daily- 
couch and nightly pillow of the invalid, till 
he feels as if Satan in bodily presence were 
standing at his bedside. 

Now what is the remedy for this unhappy 
state of things ? The first thing to be done 
is to recognize these thoughts as sins. We 
are too apt to excuse them to ourselves as 
mere infirmities, consequent on our state of 
health. They may be so to some extent. 
All our sins are the consequence of some 
temptation. So long as we constantly make 
excuses for our faults, so long they will stay 
by us, and consider themselves as welcome 
guests. Let us call them by their right 
names to begin with, and, like the malicious 
dwarf in the fairy tale, they are half con- 
quered already. 

The next thing to be done with our evil 
thoughts is to crowd them out. It has been 
said that Nature abhors a vacuum, but Satan 
loves one because it gives him a place- 
wherein to bestow his wares. Let us try to 
so occupy our mind with good things that 
there shall be no room for the bad ones. 



58 Second Monday in Lent. 

Let us fijl our memories with good and 
pleasant things, that we may from time to 
time take out our treasures, and refresh our- 
selves with the sight of them. Christian 
found his inward enemies were vanquished 
when he looked upon his broidered coat — 
that robe of Christ's righteousness given him 
instead of his own rags ; when he read in his 
roll — that evidence of his salvation given to 
every humble believer in God's word ; and 
above all, when his thoughts waxed warm 
about the place to which he was going. Try 
his method. 

Then, too, we must use the weapon put 
into our hands for this very purpose — the 
sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of 
God ; and to the end that we may have the 
full benefit thereof, we must accustom our- 
selves to its use. We must store our mem- 
ory with its promises, its counsels and instruc- 
tions. I once asked a venerable minister 
what book I should read in Lent. His 
answer was, "The Bible"; and he added, 
"I could wish that Christians would put 
aside all other books during Lent, and read 
the Bible alone." Without going so far as 
this, I would earnestly warn every one not 
to let the Bible be crowded out by any book, 



Evil Thoughts and Their Remedy. 59 

however edifying. Do not be content with 
merely reading, but study it. Learn by 
heart such passages as are likely to be most 
useful, and so familiarize yourself with the 
book as to be able to turn at once to any- 
thing you want. A sick bed or chamber is 
not the best place to begin this practice, but 
it is better begun there than never. 

Above all, let us, like Christian in the 
shadow of death, betake ourselves to the 
weapon called " all-prayer." Let us make 
haste to escape to Him who is our strong 
tower and house of defense. Let the lan- 
guage of our hearts be that of the Psalmist : 
" Into thy hands I commend my spirit, for 
Thou hast redeemed me, O Lord, thou God 
of truth." (Ps. xxxi. 5.) So shall He de- 
fend us under His wings and we shall be 
safe under His feathers ; His faithfulness and 
truth shall be our shield and buckler. 
(Ps. xci. 4.) 

Ps. xxxv. St. John xiv. 



60 Second Tuesday 'in Le?it. 



SECOND TUESDAY IN LENT. 

M EDIT A TJON. 

THE best remedies for evil thoughts are 
good thoughts. 

It is, I fear, a sorrowful truth that in these 
days of activity and bustle, in the Church and 
out of it, the duty and privilege of Christian 
meditation is in danger of being pushed into 
the background, or forgotten altogether. 
We read a few verses in the Bible, morning 
and evening. Perhaps we keep some relig- 
ious book on our table, and read a little 
every day. All this is very well as far as it 
goes. But how many Christians ever sit 
down to think out anything for themselves ? 
We may "hear and read" the Bible, but 
unless we " mark, learn, and inwardly digest " 
as well, our souls may be half-starved in 
presence of a royal banquet. 

Meditation, that is to say, serious and 
connected thought on a given subject, is not 
an easy task. But, as an excellent writer 
aptly asks, "Who ever said any Christian 



Meditation. 61 

duty was easy ? " Meditation is always hard 
at first. It is often difficult to those who 
have practiced it for years : there is so much 
to be done, and so little time; there are so 
many trials of temper and feeling in our 
daily life, whether that life be passed out of 
doors or in the confinement of a sick-room. 

This is all true. And every one of these 
statements is a plea for the practice I am 
advocating. There are so many distractions, 
that we all need the quiet of that " little 
sanctuary " which God has promised to be to* 
His people in all lands. (Ezek. xi. 16.) There 
are so many trials of temper and feeling, that 
we all need to claim the promise, "Thou 
shalt hide them privily by Thy presence from 
the provoking of all men." (Ps. xxxi. 20.) 
There is so much to be done, and so little 
time to do it in, that we cannot afford to miss 
any help which our Master has put in our 
way. As well might the tree planted by the 
river (Jer. xvii. 8) spend all its strength in 
putting forth branches and leaves, and for- 
get to stretch out its roots to the pure 
cold waters which run at its foot. Unless it 
does so stretch out its roots, it might as well 
grow like the heath in the desert. 

"But I do not know where to begin," 



62 Second Tuesday in Lent. 

says some one ; "I do not know what to 
think about." This is surely a needless 
difficulty. Is not the deep, unfailing well at 
hand, yea, under your hand ? Have you no 
Bible ? Let us look for a moment at that 
priceless model of meditation, the cxix. 
Psalm. What is the key-note of that psalm 
but the consideration of God's Word ? " I 
will meditate in Thy statutes." " Open mine 
eyes, that I may behold the wondrous things 
of Thy law." " Teach me, O Lord, the 
way of Thy statutes." And so on from 
beginning to end. It is the Word of God 
which must be the text of our medita- 
tions. 

" But how shall I set about it ? 

You are perhaps a Sunday-school teacher 
or pupil. (You should, if possible, be one or 
the other.) If so, you have the subject of 
your meditation cut out for you in your next 
Sunday's lesson. I advise you to begin by 
memorizing it. In that way you can carry 
it about with you wherever you go. Then 
turn it over in your mind, verse by verse, yea, 
word by word. Sift it as if you were hunt- 
ing for diamonds. Say to yourself, " Do I 
understand the exact meaning of this word, 
or that allusion ? How shall I explain that 



Meditation. 63 

point ? How shall I frame a question which 
shall make the pupil bring out the meaning 
for himself ? " And finally, " What does the 
lesson teach me ? " For, be assured, unless 
it does say something to you, you will never 
make it speak to any one else. If there were 
more of this kind of preparation, the super- 
intendent would not so often be grieved by 
the sorrowful spectacle of a teacher sitting 
idly before an idle class, because he or she 
"has finished the lesson, and does not know 
what to say." 

Permit me to give a short example to illus- 
trate my meaning. Take the first verse of 
the second chapter of St. Matthew — a simple 
passage, and very familiar. " Jesus was born 
in Bethlehem." Where is Bethlehem ? What 
do I know about its situation, its distance 
from Jerusalem, its history and present con- 
dition ? Was it the home of Jesus' parents ? 
How did He happen to be born there ? 
Then come the momentous questions : 
Who was this babe of Bethlehem ? Why 
was He born ? What is He to me ? And 
so you see, this simple historical verse lifts 
for you the veil of the Holy of Holies, where 
you can but wonder and adore. The prayer- 
book, also, will furnish abundant subjects for 



64 Third Wednesday in Lent. 

thought. Take the collect for the day; say, 
for example, the ninth Sunday after Trinity, 
which has a direct bearing on this subject. 
Why is it so important to have right thoughts? 
What is the relation between thinking and 
doing ? What passages of Scripture bearing 
on this point can I remember ? And so 
on through the whole collect. There is, per- 
haps, not a prayer in the Church service 
which will not afford matter for a week's 
meditation ; and no one knows the wealth 
concealed in the prayer-book who has not 
treated it in this way. Try it, and see if at 
the end of the Lenten season the Church 
service does not say more to you than ever 
it did before. 

Ps. cxix. 1-24. II Peter 1. 

Note. — The substance of this and the next chap- 
ter was printed in Church Work, some time ago. 



THIRD WEDNESDA Y IN LENT. 

M EDIT A TION. 

" Meditation is all very well for people 
of leisure," says some one, " but I am busy 
from morning till night. I have no time." 



Meditation. 6$ 

To this I answer: " Are you quite sure you 
have no time ? Let me ask you to look back 
upon your day, and tell yourself honestly 
how much time has been spent in melancholy 
musing, in useless regret, or worse than use- 
less foreboding ; perhaps, in brooding over 
some real or fancied injury or affront. Surely 
these hours would have been more pleasantly 
and profitably spent in the way I have sug- 
gested. Just because you have so much to 
do, you need the refreshment of the hidden 
spring — of the pure water which flows from 
the Fountain of Life." 

" I am engaged in a great deal of Church 
and charitable work," says another ; " has it 
not been said that labor is prayer ? and may 
it not take the place of meditation as 
well?" 

Just as well, and no better. You might 
as well say that labor is eating. It is a pretty 
and plausible saying, but it is not true. 
Labor is not prayer, any more than it is food 
or sleep. No one needs more the refreshment 
of the hidden spring than the person who is 
engaged in mission or charitable work. 
There is so much to discourage and dis- 
hearten, there are so many failures and dis- 
appointments and mistakes, that the worker 
5 



66 Third Wednesday in Lent. 

needs all the aid and comfort procurable not 
to grow morbid and discouraged. 

" Yes, it is all very well for healthy people," 
says another, " but I am an invalid." Just be- 
cause you are an invalid do you need to learn 
the art of governing your thoughts. No one is 
tempted more than an invalid to the indul- 
gence of those useless and harmful musings 
of which I have spoken. Sharp and severe 
illness is an occupation in itself. But to the 
chronic patient, able to be about a little, 
perhaps to do a little light work, how long 
are the hours of the day! how much longer 
those of the night ! How fancy pictures to 
us the pleasures of the world which we can- 
not enjoy! How often do Satan and our 
own corrupt hearts conspire to suggest hard 
and unkind thoughts of friends and attend- 
ants, yea, even of God Himself. How are 
our uneasy pillows haunted with the ghosts 
of dead joys and hopes and plans, and still 
more dread phantoms of sins and failures and 
fears for the future! I have been a bad 
sleeper all my life, and in many an hour of 
wakefulness have I blessed the old-fashioned 
Sunday-school method of " seven verses and 
a hymn," which stored my mind with whole 
chapters of the Bible, and with the best de- 



Meditation. 67 

votional poetry. I wish this old fashion 
could become a new fashion again.. I have 
never seen a better. 

" But there is such an abundance of good 
books !" 

True, but all the books in the world are 
worth very little to the person who is con- 
tent with merely reading them. We can 
think, moreover, when we cannot read, and 
half an hour's earnest and prayerful consid- 
eration of a chapter or verse of God's word 
will be of more value than a dozen commen- 
taries without such consideration. 

It is good always to begin and end our 
meditations with prayer. It is good, too, at 
times, to turn our meditation into contem- 
plation ; in simply making real to ourselves 
His presence who has said, "Lo, I am with 
you always." (St. Matt, xxviii. 20.) " If any 
man open the door, I will come in and sup 
with him, and he with Me." (Rev. in. 20.) 

Let me beg of all who read this chapter 
and who have never done so, to make trial 
of its recommendations through the Lenten 
season. Do not be discouraged, though you 
fail many times, though again and again you 
find your thoughts wandering to the ends of 
the earth. Drive them back to their ap- 



68 Third Wednesday in Lent. 

pointed work every time. By and by you 
will find them less inclined to stray. The 
hard task will become a pleasure, and you 
will be amply rewarded for your pains when 
you find Divine truth growing more and 
more clear and precious, when you find your- 
self better and better able to turn away from 
painful and unprofitable thoughts, to take 
refuge in the Lord's presence from the pro- 
voking of all men, and to rest under the 
shadow of the Great Rock in the weary land. 
Then your heart shall not be " like the heath 
in the desert, and shall not see when good 
cometh," but rather " as a tree planted by the 
waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by 
the river ; and shall not see when heat com- 
eth, but her leaf shall be green ; and shall 
not be careful in the year of drought, neither 
shall cease from yielding fruit." (Jer. xvii. 6, 8.) 
Jer. xvii. Rev. iii. 



Prayer. 69 



THIRD THURSDAY IN LENT. 
PRAYER. 

The Christian is to pray without ceasing; 
that is, he is always to be in the spirit of 
prayer. He is, by God's help, to strive to 
keep himself in such a state that he can at 
any moment lift up his heart and mind to 
his Heavenly Father, and that as much in 
the round of his daily business as in his closet. 
He is to strive to carry about with him an 
habitual sense of the presence of God, and of 
dependence upon Him for all things. 

" Use lessens marvel," says the old proverb, 
and the saying is true. The most surprising 
discoveries in science, the most wonderful 
applications of these discoveries to the arts, 
cease to astonish us in a very short time. 
There is nothing in the Arabian Nights 
which sounds more incredible than that the 
movement of a wheel turned by a water-fall 
should light up a great city. Yet every child 
has become used to the electric light, and 



jo Third Thursday in Lent. 

thinks no more marvel of it than his grand- 
father did of a candle. 

So it is with prayer. Every child of a 
Christian mother is taught to pray as soon as 
it can speak, and accepts without question 
the instruction that prayer is talking to his 
Father in Heaven. He prays God to bless 
his father, who is sailing on the sea, and his 
brother in a distant city, and it seems no 
more wonderful to him than that the street 
light should make a pretty picture on the 
wall of his nursery. And yet what a wonder 
is prayer, when we come to consider it! All 
the marvels of man's discovery and inven- 
tion shrink into nothing before it. I was 
once telling some little girls about the tele- 
phone and saying how strange it seemed to 
talk with a friend twenty miles away. 
" Yes," said one, " but we can talk to God 
without a wire." 

The great God who upholds the Universe 
in His hand, and orders all things by His 
omnipotent power and wisdom, has his ear 
always open to the appeal of his feeblest 
child. Not a sigh from a sick-bed, not a 
prayer lisped at the mother's knee, not a cry 
from the deepest dungeon, but is heard and 
marked by Him. From every place on earth, 



Prayer. 7 1 

the way is open to His throne. The mother 
who has a son in China can send him help 
by this road. The poor widow in the alms- 
house can lighten the trials of her lot; yea, 
though she have not a penny to give to the 
cause, she can help the missionary in the 
farthest distant field by her prayers. When 
we can do no more for our friends, we can 
commend them to the prayers of the Church. 
Alas ! we too often wait till we can do no 
more. 

I close this chapter with an extract from 
Professor Phelps's admirable book, " The Still 
Hour." 

"In the vestibule of St. Peter's at Rome 
is a doorway which is walled up, and marked 
with a cross. It is opened but four times in a 
century. On Christmas eve, once in twenty- 
five years, the Pope approaches it in princely 
state, with a retinue of cardinals in attend- 
ance, and begins the demolition of the door 
by striking it three times with a silver ham- 
mer. When the passage is opened, the mul- 
titude pass into the nave of the cathedral 
and up to the altar by an avenue which the 
majority of them never entered before, and 
never will enter thus again. 

" Imagine that the way to the Throne of 



72 Third Thursday in Lent. 

Grace were like the Porta Santa, inaccessible 
save once in a quarter of a century, on the 
twenty-fifth of December, and then only 
with august solemnities, conducted by great 
dignitaries in a distant city. Conceive that 
it were now ten years since you or I, or any 
other sinner, had been permitted to pray; 
and that fifteen long years must drag them- 
selves away before we could venture to ap- 
proach God; and that, at the most, we could 
not hope to pray more than two or three 
times in a life-time — with what solicitude 
should we wait for the coming of that holy 
day ! 

" We should lay our plans of life, select our 
homes, build our houses, choose our profes- 
sions, with reference to a pilgrimage in that 
twenty-fifth year. We should reckon time 
by the opening of that sacred door as by 
epochs. No other one thought would en- 
gross so much of our lives, or kindle our sen- 
sibilities so exquisitely, as the thought of 
prayer. It would be of more significance to 
us than the thought of death is now. Fear 
would grow to horror at the thought of 
dying before that Jubilee. 

" Yet on that great day, amidst an innumer- 
able throng, within sight and hearing of 



Prayer. 73 

stately rites, what would prayer be to us ? 
Who would value it in the comparison of 
those still moments, that 

' Sacred silence of the mind,' 

in which we can now find God every day and 
everywhere ? That day would be more like 
the day of Judgment to us than like the 
sweet minutes of converse with our Father, 
which we may now have every hour. We 
should appreciate this privilege of hourly 
prayer if it were once taken from us." 
Ps. lxxvii. St. Luke xi. 1-14. 



THIRD FRIDA Y IN LENT. 

PRAYER. » 

WHAT is prayer ? 

Prayer, in its primary sense, means simply 
asking. We find the word constantly used 
in this sense in Scripture and elsewhere; as 
when Elijah says to the widow woman of 
Zarephath, " Fetch me, I pray thee, a little 
water." But prayer, as the word has come 
to be used in the whole Church, has a much 
higher signification. It means speaking to 



74 Third Friday in Lent. 

God. It means pouring out our hearts to 
Him — telling Him all our wants, our wishes, 
our hindrances and temptations, our trials 
from without and from within. It means 
asking not only for ourselves, but for others; 
our families, our fellow church-members, our 
pupils, our country and its rulers, yea, even 
our enemies. (S. Matt. v. 44.) -There is no 
matter too great for it, and none too small. 
There is no man so holy as not to need it to 
keep him good, and none so wicked that he 
may not use it to make him better. The 
way of prayer is open to every one. It is the 
open door set before every child of God, which 
no man can shut. The Christian may be a 
slave, or a prisoner watched by soldiers, beset 
by spies, loaded with fetters in the deepest 
dungeon on earth. In the prisons of the 
Inquisition, the captive was condemned to 
perpetual silence. Not a word, not a groan, 
must escape his lips, on pain of the gag. But 
his cruel and relentless jailers could not pre- 
vent him from speaking to his God, nor could 
they prevent the unspoken words from enter- 
ing the ear for which they were intended. 
That was beyond their power. 

The courts of earthly kings are places of 
resort for great people, for the noble, the 



Prayer. 75 

rich and beautiful of their subjects. The poor 
and lowly have no room there. But the 
courts of the King of kings are as free to the 
poorest laboring man and woman as to those 
to whose luxury they minister; nay, it may 
well be that the slave will find entrance and 
kind entertainment when his master is shut 
out. Nor is ignorance or weakness of intel- 
lect a bar to acceptance. The broken lan- 
guage of the poor negro, the lisping accents 
of the little child, are as musical to the great 
Father of all as the hymns of the poet, or 
the highest flights of the philosopher. He 
sees the heart, and it is the heart which prays. 

What is requisite to acceptable prayer ? 

First of all, faith. " He that cometh to 
God, must believe that He is, and that He is 
arewarderof them that diligently seek Him." 
(Heb. xi. 6.) A moment's consideration 
makes this perfectly plain. We shall not 
ask of any person a boon, unless we believe 
that the person exists, and that we shall 
gain something by the application. We must 
ask in faith; that is, in the belief that we 
are speaking to a kind Father, whose heart 
is warm toward us, and who loves to do us 
good. 

Some good people believe that God will 



yC Third Friday in Lent. 

give us just what we ask for. They will even 
tell us that, if we do not so receive, it is be- 
cause we do not ask in faith. I believe this 
to be a mischievous mistake. God knows 
our necessities before we ask, and He also 
knows our ignorance in asking. We do not 
always know whether the thing we ask is 
the best thing. Our Father sees our lives 
" in the whole of our duration, whether now 
or ever so many ages hence," as a distin- 
guished author has it, and 

"The All-wise is the All-loving too!" 
All things are in his power, and it costs Him 
no more to give one than another. Every 
prayer reaches His ear and heart, and every 
one is answered, but not always in the way 
we expect. Sometimes He gives us some- 
thing else than the thing we desire, as a ten- 
der mother gives her child wholesome food at 
the same time that she withholds the coveted 
but unwholesome dainty. Sometimes, too, 
like the same wise mother, He answers, gently 
but firmly, No! But even when He says 
No, He does not leave His child uncomforted. 
"I have learned by experience," says an 
aged saint of God, " that when He refuses 
me anything, by and by He comforts me in 
Himself without it." 



Prayer. jj 

We must pray with faith, and with resigna- 
tion to God's will, but we must also ask with 
perseverance. Our Lord gives us the war- 
rant for this in the parables of the importu- 
nate friend (St. Luke xi), and of the unjust 
judge (St. Luke xviii). We are to "pray 
always, and not to faint." (St. Luke xviii. I.) 
We are to " pray always, with all prayer and 
supplication." (Eph. vi. 18.) We are to " pray 
without ceasing." (i Thess. v. 17.) We must 
not be content with asking once or twice, 
but we must keep asking again and again. 
Some blessing will come in answer to perse- 
vering prayer, though it may not always be 
the one we seek. 

There is one blessing, and that the great- 
est, which we may always ask in full confi- 
dence of receiving, and that is the gift of the 
Holy Spirit. Our Lord tells us that earthly 
parents are not so ready to give good 
gifts to their children, as His father and ours 
is to give the Holy Spirit to them that ask 
Him. (St. Luke xi. 13.) And this very gift 
helps us to pray acceptably, for "the Spirit 
also helpeth our infirmities," interceding for 
us with " groanings which cannot be uttered." 
" And He that searcheth the heart knoweth 
what is the mind of the Spirit, because He 



7& Third Saturday in Lent. 

maketh intercession for the saints, according 
to the will of God." (Rom. viii. 26, 27.) 
Ps. xxv. St. Luke xi. 1-14. 



THIRD SA TURD A Y IN LENT. 

INTERCESSION. 

We are not to be selfish in our prayers. 
Our Lord teaches us this lesson in the very 
first words of the form of prayer which He 
Himself has given us: " When ye pray, say, 
Our Father." 

Of course, if God is our Father, He is your 
Father and mine as well. Nay, we must lay 
hold of this truth of God's individual care 
and love for His children, before we can pray 
as we ought. But our Lord would bring 
home to our minds that, as we are members 
of Christ, so we are members one of another. 
We are sons and daughters of the great 
King, and so brothers and sisters ; and, 
thence it follows that, as members of one 
family^ we have duties to perform toward each 
other. It is the very definition of a member 
that it is part of an organism fitted to per- 
form certain offices for the good of the whole. 
We see, in the human body, that the hand 



Intercession. 79 

has one office, the eye another, and so on. 
So it is in the body of Christ, which is His 
Church — each member has his place and his 
duties. One of these duties is intercessory 
prayer. 

We have the commands of God in Holy 
Scripture for this matter, which should of 
itself be enough for us: " I exhort, therefore, 
that first of all supplications, prayers, inter- 
cessions, and giving of thanks be made for all 
men. For this is good and acceptable in 
the sight of God our Saviour." (1 Tim. ii. 
1, 3.) St. Paul again and again asks the 
prayers of those to whom his letters are 
addressed. " Brethren, pray for. us." (1 
Thess. v. 25.) " Continue in prayer, and 
watch in the same with thanksgiving; withal 
praying also for us " (Col. iv. 2, 3); and so in 
other places. Our Lord Himself, our per- 
fect pattern, sets us the highest example of 
this kind of prayer, concluding His last dis- 
course to the twelve with that most wonder- 
ful intercession contained in the seventeenth 
chapter of St. John. 

Following the example of her Head, the 
Church teaches us the same lesson. We 
are taught to pray for our rulers, for the 
clergy, for all sorts and conditions of men. 



80 Third Saturday in Lent. 

The Litany is in a great measure made up of 
intercessions. Also in the most solemn ser- 
vice of all — that of the Holy Communion — 
we are taught to pray for the whole estate of 
Christ's church militant. 

These reasons ought to be enough, if there 
were no others, to move us to the duty of 
intercession. It hardly seems, indeed, as if 
we ought to need a command, however glad 
we may be of the encouragement. Is it not 
a privilege as well as a duty to carry our 
friends' dangers and needs and trials to the 
Mercy Seat ? Is it not much to commend to 
our Father's care our nearest and dearest, 
and to join our prayers to theirs, thus ob- 
taining the benefit of the promise that when 
two are agreed on earth as touching any- 
thing they shall ask, it shall be done for 
them ? (St. Matt, xviii. 19.) 

We may help those by our prayers whom 
we can help in no other way. The most 
obstinate sinner, the most rampant infidel, 
the most careless and indifferent person in 
the world, cannot keep his friends from pray- 
ing for him. The son may disregard his 
mother's tears and counsels, but her prayers 
will follow him in spite of himself. Nay, more, 
the very consciousness that such prayers were 



Intercession. 8 1 

following him has kept more than one such 
wanderer from an irretrievable fall, and 
brought him back to his mother's arms. Pray- 
er girdles the earth more quickly than the 
electric spark, and no one upon that earth 
is out of its reach. 

Those who can help the good works of 
the Church in no other way can do so by 
prayer. The invalid in her room or on her 
bed, who is too weak perhaps to hold a pen 
or a needle, can help the toiler in China or 
the far West ; can call down blessing from 
the Divine Treasury, and strength and 
grace from the Fountain of all good, for the 
man or woman she has never seen. The 
poor old black woman in the gallery of the 
church, without a penny to call her own, can 
strengthen the hands and cheer the heart of 
the eloquent missionary bishop who enters 
the pulpit to make known to the people 
what God has wrought in a distant land. 
Surely such a privilege is worth a great deal 
to the true child of God, who desires with 
the whole heart the coming of her Lord and 
His kingdom, but yet can do nothing, hu- 
manly speaking, to hasten it on. 

It is certain that we cannot honestly pray 
for people without wishing to help them in 
6 



82 Third Saturday in Lent. 

other ways. The man whose prayers are a 
mere decent form, or a sheer pretence and 
hypocrisy, may pray in general for the cause 
of Christ in the world without raising his 
hand or denying himself one indulgence for 
it, but not the man who prays in earnest, 
"Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on 
earth as it is in heaven." To him, "Thy 
kingdom come " means also, " Let me help 
to bring it," and " Thy will be done " means 
also, " Let me do it." It is said of St. Chry- 
sostom, that he kept a box on the stool 
where he was wont to kneel in prayer, and 
with every petition for the poor he deposited 
a coin in the treasury. 

Finally, praying for others helps us to 
pray for ourselves. When our hearts seem 
dull and cold, and so heavy that we cannot 
raise them up to heaven, an intercession will 
often lend them wings. We shall go back 
to our own needs with renewed faith and 
hope, and find the burden removed that held 
us down. 

Let us, then, be instant in prayer and sup- 
plication, not only for ourselves, but for our 
friends and relatives, our pupils or teachers, 
for our own parish and all its interests, for 
the Church at large, fcr our country, and for 



Our Enemies. 83 

all sorts and conditions of men. And let us 
not be weary in so doing, till " they shall 
teach no more every man his neighbor, and 
every man his brother, saying, Know the 
Lord ; for all shall know Him, from the 
least of them even unto the greatest of them." 
(Jer. xxxi. 34.) Yea, " the knowledge of the 
Lord shall cover the earth as the waters 
cover the sea." (Hab. ii. 14.) 

Is. lxii. I Tim. ii. 



THIRD SUNDAY IN LENT. 

OUR ENEMIES. 

In the collect for the day we ask for de- 
fense against our enemies. " Stretch out 
Thy right hand to be our defense against 
our enemies." The right hand is the symbol 
both of power and skill. It is especially so 
among Orientals, with whom it is reserved 
for all the nobler offices, the left hand per- 
forming those which are more humble or un- 
clean. We find in the Psalms and the pro- 
phets, that the right hand of God is usually- 
spoken of as the especial seat of His power, 
as in Ps. cxviii. 6. " The right hand of the 
Lord hath the pre-eminence; the right hand 



84 Third Sunday in Lent. 

of the Lord bringeth mighty things to pass." 
To the Christian the right hand of the 
Lord means even more than it did to the 
Jew, for it is there that his Saviour is en- 
throned, and ever remains, to make inter- 
cession for him. Saint Stephen was vouch- 
safed the vision of his risen Lord, thus placed, 
no doubt, to strengthen him for his coming 
trial, and there shall we all see him who are 
counted worthy to attain to the first resur- 
rection. " To think," said an aged saint to 
whom I had just been reading the Bible," to 
think that I shall see Jesus at the right hand 
of God ! Oh, if I might but once touch His 
hand !" The very thought lighted up her plain 
face with a smile which made it beautiful. 

God is our defense. All the Scriptures 
are full of the thought, but especially the 
Psalms. God will help the poor and needy, 
and will set him at rest. (Ps. lxii. 6.) " The 
Lord is my stony rock and my defense, my 
Saviour, my God and my might, in whom I 
will trust ; my buckler, the horn also of my 
salvation, and my refuge." (Ps. xviii. 1.) 
" Though I walk through the valley of the 
shadow of death, I will fear no evil ; for 
Thou art with me ; Thy rod and Thy staff 
comfort me." (Ps. xxiii. 4.) 



Our Enemies. 85 

And so again and again we have our 
Heavenly Father's promise to defend His 
children against all their enemies, both 
spiritual and temporal. True, we must walk 
through the wilderness of this world, but we 
need not walk alone. True, we walk in the 
midst of enemies, yet "they that be with us 
are more than they that be with them" (2 
Kings vi. 16), and if our eyes were opened, 
like those of the prophet's servant, we should, 
like him, see the angel hosts sent for defense. 
We may, nay we must, hunger and thirst, but 
the Lord will cause waters to break out in 
the wilderness, and streams in the desert. 
(Isa. xxxv. 6.) We need be afraid of 
none of its terrors. The light will break 
forth and the sun will rise, and show the 
ground covered with manna for our refresh- 
ment. 

The thought of our God as a defense and 
shield should be a help and comfort to those 
Christians who are troubled with fears. 
There are those, especially among invalids, 
whose lives are made a burden to themselves 
and others by needless fears. They are afraid 
of lightning, of fire, of robbers, of they know 
not what. They feel as if every thunderbolt 
had a special commission for them ; as if 



86 Third Sunday in Lent. 

every blast of wind were a destroying angel. 
These fears are often merely nervous symp- 
toms, but even then they are very much 
under the control of the patient. Let me 
say to such an one, Do but think, do but try to 
realize to yourself the fact that the Lord's 
right hand is stretched out to be your de- 
fense in all dangers — that He will defend 
thee under His wings, and thou shalt be safe 
under His feathers. Consider that the dark- 
ness is no darkness to Him, but the night is 
as clear as the day. (Ps. cxxxix. n.) 
" When first before the mercy-seat 
Thou didst thine all to Him commit, 
He gave thee warrant from that hour 
To trust His mercy, love, and power." 

Are not these terrors, then, an affront to 
Him, as implying a distrust in His plighted 
word ? Dismiss them, then ! Send them 
back to the darkness where they belong, and 
let your motto be, " I will lay me down in 
peace, and take my rest, for it is Thou, Lord, 
that makest time to dwell in safety." (Ps. 
iv. 9.) 

Ps. xci. St. John xiv. 



Our Enemies. 87 



THIRD MONDAY IN LENT. 

OUR ENEMIES. 

We have seen that the collect we are con- 
sidering has its foundation, like all the pray- 
ers that we learn at the knee of our mother, 
the Church, in the promises of God's word, 
and are therefore sure to be answered in 
some way. Observe, however, that it is no- 
where said in the Bible that we are not to 
meet with adversities. Nay, we are told the 
express contrary. All His life long our Mas- 
ter endured hardship and trouble; and the 
servant is not above his Master. " In the 
world ye shall have tribulation," says our 
Lord to His apostles, but He graciously adds: 
" Be of good cheer, I have overcome the 
world." (St. John xvi. 33.) 

What are those enemies which the Chris- 
tian has to dread, and against which he has 
special need to pray for deliverance ? 

Here, again, our Lord leaves us in no doubt. 
" Fear not them which kill the body, and 
are not able to kill the soul " (St. Matt. x. 



88 Third Monday in Lent. 

II); and again, " Fear not them that kill the 
body, and, after that, have no more that 
they can do." (St. Luke xii. 4.) This shuts 
out all that class of terrors of which I spoke 
in the last chapter. The cruelest murderer, 
the most destructive storm or earthquake, 
the most noisome pestilence, can only kill 
that which must die at any rate — which 
brought its death-warrant with it when it 
came into the world. They cannot destroy 
the real man or woman ; nay, all their forces 
combined cannot deprive him of the very 
least of those things which God hath pre- 
pared for them that love Him (1 Cor. ii. 9); 
nor of one moment of that eternal life which 
God hath given us in His Son. (1 John v. 11.) 
Clearly, then, the enemies we have to fear 
are those which assault and hurt the soul, 
and which, unless steadfastly resisted, are 
able to make our way dark and perilous, if 
not to deprive us of that inheritance which 
has been prepared for us. It is they whom 
we are to combat with all our force, and 
against whom we must specially ask our 
great Defender to stretch out His right hand. 
Yet even here we must not show ourselves 
coward and craven. We are soldiers of 
Christ. Let us never forget that. Every 



Our Enemies. 89 

br.ttle is fought for Him, every victory is a 
victory over His enemies as well as our own. 
He will never leave us to struggle alone, but 
is always with us, though we cannot always 
perceive Him. Let us, then, be strong in the 
Lord, and in the power of His might, know- 
ing that His Father, who gave us to Him, is 
greater than all, and none is able to pluck 
us out of His hand. (St. John x. 29.) 

Our spiritual enemies may all be classed 
under three heads — the world, the flesh, and 
the devil. Against these we are to fight 
manfully and to the death, never laying down 
our arms, never relaxing our vigilance, and, 
even though apparently beaten for the time, 
never giving up, till our Great Commander 
shall see our warfare accomplished, and call 
us home. It is the Christian's paradox that 
there is no peace except in war. If we give 
up the contest, we become slaves; and though 
our conquerors give us all the goods they 
have to bestow in this life, they do but treat 
us as cannibals treat their prisoners — fatten- 
ing them, that they may devour them at last. 

Hab. ii. St. Luke xii. 



90 ' Third Tuesday in Lent. 



THIRD TUESDAY IN LENT 
THE WORLD. 

Every general strives to know all that he 
can about his enemy, his nature and posi- 
tion, his powers and resources, and tries to 
foresee the plans of that enemy's attack, 
that he may be able to meet and frustrate 
them. Let us, then, inquire a little into the 
nature of those foes which beset our home- 
ward path, and which would, if they could, 
hinder us from reaching the rest prepared for 
us in our Father's house. First of all, what 
is meant by the world ? 

The world means all that outside of our- 
selves which is alienated from and opposed 
to God, which is governed by and devoted 
to the things which are temporal, and ig- 
nores, if it does not hate, the things which are 
eternal. It is very wise in its own eyes ; yea, 
according to its own canons, and from its 
own standpoint, wiser than the children of 
light. It is dreadfully in earnest in the 
things which it pursues, though those things 



The World. 91 

may be of the most frivolous description. It 
gets into all sorts of places, alas even into 
the Church itself, running here and there for 
meat, and grudging if it be not satisfied, 
which, indeed, it never is. It is a severe mas- 
ter to its votaries, exacting the hardest and 
the most exclusive services and the most 
cruel sacrifices, and rewarding them at last 
with husks and rags. 

The world puts on many disguises. To 
one it comes under the name of business, de- 
manding of its slave that he shall give up 
everything else for the pursuit of money. It 
does not make this demand of every man at 
the beginning, and in so many words. No, 
it is more cunning than that. It tells him 
that it is his duty to provide for his family, not 
only needful food and clothes and the means 
of education, but a fine house in a fashionable 
quarter, and as many luxuries as his neigh- 
bor possesses. It makes him press hard on 
those who labor for him, and exact much 
work for little pay. It makes him rent tene- 
ments to men and women which are not fit 
for pigs to live in, and grudge the smallest 
outlay for the health and comfort of his ten- 
ants. It makes him plan and scheme to add 
a few thousands more to his useless millions, 



92 Third Tuesday in Lent. 

by raising the price of fuel and food to the 
poor man. By and by, the world has done 
with him. He speculates a little too rashly, 
and his wealth goes as it came. Or God 
says to him, " Thou fool ! This night thy 
soul shall be required of thee ! " and he goes 
forth from the visible and unreal to the in- 
visible and real, a shivering, hungry, naked 
soul, homeless to all eternity. And that 
world for which he has toiled and sacrificed 
misses him as much as he missed the con- 
sumptive girl who breathed the foul air of 
his factory till her young life was poisoned, 
and she dropped at her machine, and went 
home to die. 

The world comes to a woman with a family 
of little ones, and bids her leave these immor- 
tal pledges of God's love to servants, to learn 
their very prayers from alien lips, and spend 
her nights in amusements, and her days in 
planning for the nights. It exacts of her 
that she shall risk her health and blunt her 
sense of delicacy by immodest and insuffi- 
cient clothing. It tell her that these things 
are necessary, a debt that she owes to soci- 
ety, and whispers that she can make up for 
all that needs an atonement, by putting on a 
sober dress and going to church regularly 



The World. 93 

in Lent, or by giving about the fiftieth part 
of what her dress costs in charity. 

To another woman, the world comes in 
sober attire, with a housewifely apron and a 
bunch of keys. It has another bait for this 
one, who would not attend a ballet for the 
world, and looks with horror on a game of 
cards. This woman's world is her house- 
keeping, and she can see nothing else. She 
would feel herself disgraced forever, if her 
neighbor put up more cans of fruit or gave 
more kinds of cake to her company than her- 
self. Talk to her of the sewing-school or the 
district visiting society, and she will tell you 
of her anxieties about the doing up of her 
lace curtains. Tell her of the needs of the 
heathen, at home or abroad, she may listen 
politely, but her duty, she says, is to her own 
family, and she cannot do anything to help 
you because her dining-room chairs are quite 
out of fashion, and she must have new ones. 
Ask her to see that her little daughter has 
her catechism learned for Sunday-school, and 
she will tell you, as she sews the elaborate 
and costly trimming on the child's dress, that 
she has no time. 

We are in bondage to the world so soon 
as we let the seen and temporal, no matter 



94 Third Tuesday in Lent. 

in what shape it comes, blind us to the un- 
seen and eternal. We are in cruel bondage 
when we let the fear of what the world may- 
say about us lead us to do what we know to 
be inconsistent with our baptismal vows and 
our loyalty to our Lord. We are slaves to 
the world when we allow any of the things 
which live in time and perish with time to 
possess our hearts to the exclusion of those 
things which belong to eternity. It is true, 
that as long as we are on the earth, the 
things of earth must claim much of our at- 
tention. Thank God ! all these things may 
be made holy by an honest intention. But 
we cannot serve God and mammon, and he 
who tries to do so will in the end find him- 
self deserted of both, and left to himself, that 
worst of all fates, from which may God in 
His mercy keep us all ! 

Psalm lxxiii. St. Luke xvi. 



The Flesh. 95 



FO UR TH WEDNESDA Y IN 
LENT. 

THE FLESH. 

Who and what are the enemies that come 
to us under this name ? 

All those pleasures and pursuits which 
appeal only or chiefly to our senses; to our 
earthly and mortal natures; to that carnal 
mind which St. Paul tells us is not, and by 
its very nature cannot be, subject to the law 
of God. The enemies of the flesh are all the 
more dangerous because they appear under 
the disguise of friends — of things harmless, 
and even necessary, in themselves. They 
are like slaves, serving their masters in deed, 
but with secret enmity, always watching 
their chance to rebel, and the cruelest of 
tyrants when they gain the mastery. Just 
because we cannot do without them, we need 
to guard against their abuse. 

How much money is wasted every year 
upon table luxuries, which the consumers 
would be as well or better without! How 



g6 Fourth Wednesday in Lent. 

many become such slaves to certain articles 
of food and drink that they find it almost 
impossible to do without these things, though 
they know, on the best authority, that health 
is being injured by their use! How many 
are vexed and put out of temper if their bod- 
ily comfort is invaded in the smallest degree! 
More than once have I seen the comfort of 
a whole table-full destroyed, and the meal 
rendered distasteful, by some one person, 
who persisted in finding fault with every- 
thing set upon the board. 

It may seem at first sight a singular state- 
ment, that invalids need especially to main- 
tain a strict watch over themselves in the 
matter of indulgence in eating and drinking, 
but I believe it is true. There is perhaps 
more excuse to be made for them than for 
most others, because they are, perforce, 
obliged to think a good deal of the matter; 
but for this very reason they need to guard 
themselves against dwelling too much on it, 
and against harmful self-indulgence. I have 
seen invalids keep themselves in a chronic 
state of discomfort, and consequent fretful- 
ness, by eating too much. And it is an odd 
circumstance, though one well known to 
doctors and nurses, that these very people 



The Flesh. 97 

are often fully convinced that they eat little 
or nothing 

Invalids are often led to injure themselves 
by an inordinate use of the drugs and stimu- 
lants prescribed by physicians. They find 
the use of such remedies followed by pleasant 
sensations, and take them many times when 
they are not really needful; and so are made 
the opium drunkard, the chloral drunkard, 
and not infrequently the whisky drunkard 
as well. I use the word advisedly. The 
man who lives upon laudanum, the woman 
who indulges in morphine or chloral, is just 
as much a drunkard as the man or woman 
who gets tipsy in the corner saloon, and 
usually an even more hopeless case. The 
whisky drunkard will often admit that he is 
such; the opium drunkard never. 

The remedy for all these evils is to be 
found in one word — temperance. "Every 
man that striveth for the mastery is tem- 
perate in all things." (1 Cor. ix. 25.) The word 
" temperance " has come to be used in such 
a confined sense, that we are in danger of 
forgetting its larger application. We are to 
be temperate in all things; that is, we are to 
use them in such moderation as that they 
shall do us good instead of harm, and to have 
7 



98 Fourth Wednesday in Lent. 

the mastery over our appetites, so that we 
shall command them, and not they us. 

I have been speaking of such things as are 
in themselves harmless, and even useful, but 
there are other temptations which come 
under the head of" the flesh," and to which 
the word " temperate " does not apply, be- 
cause the soldier of Christ has no right to 
touch them at all. Such are all those indul- 
gences which tend to blunt the moral sense, 
and to arouse bad thoughts and passions. 
These things often come to us under very 
pretty disguises of art, literature, and the like. 
I have known a Christian read a vile book, 
hardly fit for a decent kitchen fire, excusing 
himself on the ground of the beautiful style — 
as if one should take poison because it was 
presented in a finely carved bowl. 'Christian 
women go to see other women — young girls, 
as precious in God's sight as their own daugh- 
ters — exhibit themselves on the stage in 
shamelessly indecent dresses and .dances. 
Yes, and they come away and express a virtu- 
ous horror of the poor creatures, who are not 
half as bad as themselves, inasmuch as they 
are working hard for a living, and not for 
idle amusement. A shamelessly wicked 
woman comes among us, and people who 



Our Ghostly Enemy. 99 

profess and call themselves Christians go to 
see and applaud her on the stage, because, 
forsooth, it is "an education in art." 

In all such matters there is but one rule 
for the Christian — "touch not, taste not, 
handle not." Give the enemy no admission 
under any pretense, however specious. No- 
body was ever hurt by letting a doubtful 
pleasure alone. Our carnal nature will in 
itself make us trouble enough without any 
help. By God's grace we can keep it in sub- 
jection, but how can we expect that grace, 
how dare we ask for it, if we run willfully into 
temptation? 

Ps. xvii. 1 Cor. x. 



FO UR TH THURSDA Y IN LENT. 

OUR GHOSTLY ENEMY. 

It seems rather the fashion, just now, to 
deny the existence of Satan as a person at 
all. I suppose nothing could please him 
more than to be so denied. " I don't believe 
in a personal devil," said a lady in a Bible 
class; "I believe in a principle of evil.'' 
When asked to define what she meant by a 



IOO Four tli Thursday in Le?it. 

principle of evil, it appeared that she had no 
very clear idea of the matter herself. The 
simple truth is that there is as much proof 
of the personality of Satan as of the Holy 
Spirit, and a believer in the Bible may as 
reasonably deny one as the other. Our Lord 
always speaks of him as a living, thinking, 
active being, as in St. John viii. 44, St. Matt, 
xiii. 19 and 39, and many other places. Try 
substituting the words " principle of evil " in 
these passages, and see what sense it will 
make. Satan is perhaps the most active mem- 
ber of that famous old firm " the world, the 
flesh, and the devil," in which indeed there 
are no silent partners. He is always ready 
to back the others, and, what is still worse, 
he has a secret ally in every heart, who, 
though crushed and kept under, is always 
trying to open correspondence with its old 
friend. He does not come to us in hideous 
disguise of hoof and horn, as the old painters 
have depicted him. None but a fool would 
do that; and he is no fool as concerns the 
ends he would compass. " The devil knows 
many things," says the Arab proverb, " be- 
cause he is very old." He knows how to put 
on many disguises, and can on occasions 
transform himself into an angel of light. 



Otir Ghostly Enemy. ior 

Pride and anger, envy, hatred, and malice, 
are usually the sins specially attributed to 
Satan; but there is one class of sins which 
are particularly his own. I refer to lying in 
all its branches, to evil-speaking, slander, 
detraction, and the like. " When he speaketh 
of a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he is a 
liar, and the father of it," says our Lord. 
(St. John viii. 44.) Slander is his business 
and delight. He is " the accuser of our 
brethren" (Rev. xii. 10), and the patron of 
them that do the like. 

This matter of evil-speaking is one that 
deserves grave consideration. It is a com- 
mon and crying evil. There are probably 
few -I wish I dared say no— professing Chris- 
tians who will deliberately invent a slander, 
but how many are there who will repeat one 
without a thought, and that of a fellow 
church-member, with whom they have per- 
haps knelt at the Lord's table only the day 
before. Mrs. A. hears a tale of shame con- 
cerning a young girl, which, if true, would be 
enough to blight the young thing's character 
forever. She does not know if it be true or 
false; perhaps she does not know the person 
by sight; but it is a piece of news, and for 
the dear delight of telling a story she re- 



io2 Fourth Thursday in Lent. 

peats it — never, be it observed, without some 
slight addition, for few people can repeat a 
thing exactly as they hear it. Mrs. A. does 
not think that in so repeating a slander she 
is making herself responsible for it, but such 
is the case, and God will hold her so if man 
does not. She may think herself a very 
good woman at the very time that she is 
doing Satan's dirtiest work for him. It is 
not necessary that slander should always 
be put into direct words. An insinuation, a 
lifting of the hands and eyes, nay, silence 
itself, may and often does say more than 
words. 

" A lie has a thousand legs, while the truth 
has but two," says the Eastern proverb. No 
matter how often a false statement is re- 
peated, there is always some one ^o believe it 
and repeat it. Here is a notable instance, 
borne one once said that " everv sixpence 
given to the heathen cost a dollar to send 
it." It is an utterly false statement, and has 
been proved so a dozen times ; yet it is 
constantly repeated, and meets the mission- 
ary worker at every turn. " I have never 
car^d to have anything to do with Mrs. N., 
since she was found out taking goods from 
G.'s store," said a person of one who was a 



Our Ghostly Enemy. 103 

fellow church - member. " But that was 
entirely disproved," said I, indignantly; " it 
was shown plainly that Mrs. N. simply took 
another parcel for her own — a mistake any- 
one might make." " Oh well, I never heard 
that !" was the reply. " It was on odH mis- 
take, anyhow! " I suppose this story will 
be repeated to Mrs. N.'s discredit for years 
to come, and not one in twenty who hears it 
will hear the refutation. 

It is a safe rule never to repeat anything 
to the disadvantage of another, unless abso- 
lutely necessary. The golden rule applies 
here as everywhere, " Think, if you are 
tempted to retail a bit of personal slander, 
how you would like it if the case were your 
own — if it were yourself or your wife or 
daughter that was attacked." Think that 
every fellow-Christian is a member of the 
Lord's body, and that in wounding the mem- 
bers you wound also the Head. Another 
good rule is never to repeat conversation. 
We all need the prayer, " Set a watch, O 
Lord, before my mouth, and keep the door 
of my lips." (Ps. cxli. 3.) Finally, since it is 
out of the abundance of the heart that the 
mouth speaketh, let us strive to keep our 
hearts and minds as become the temples of 



104 Fourth Friday in Lent. 

the Holy Ghost, pure and clean, and admit 

no visitors therein but such as are worthy of 

that greatest and most honored of all guests. 

Ps. cxli. St. James iii. 



FOURTH FRIDAY IN LENT. 

THE GREAT TEMPTER. 

" One thing I would not let slip : I took 
notice that poor Christian was so confounded 
that he did not know his own voice ; and 
thus I perceived it. Just when he was come 
over against the mouth of the burning pit, 
one of the wicked ones got behind him, and 
stepped up softly to him, and whisperingly 
suggested many grievous blasphemies to 
him, which he verily thought had proceeded 
from his own mind. This put Christian more 
to it than anything that he met with before, 
even to think that he now blasphemed Him 
that he loved before. Yet if he could have 
helped it, he would not have done it; but he 
had not the discretion either to stop his 
ears, or to know whence these blasphemies 
came." 

Does not this passage of Bunyan's describe 
the occasional experience of many a Chris- 



The Great Tempter. 10$ 

tian ? We find ourselves assailed by doubts 
and fears, by hard thoughts of our Father in 
Heaven, by wicked suggestions of all sorts, 
till we are ready to despair of ourselves, and 
to think ourselves hypocrites or castaways. 

How it is that Satan contrives to inject 
these evil suggestions, or why he should be 
permitted to do so, I cannot tell, any more 
than I can tell why evil should exist at all. 
It is a part of that great mystery which may 
perhaps be explained in a future life, but 
certainly not hjre. The practical question 
is, How are we to meet these assaults, and 
what is the best way to repel them ? 

An old writer has said that the best way 
to meet temptations is to deal with them as 
one does with dogs which run out to bark at 
passengers — walk straight on, and take no 
notice of them. This is, in many cases, a 
good rule. Ignore the tempter altogether. 
Hold no parley with him, but go straight on 
with whatever you are doing. He will grow 
tired after a while, and let you alone. But 
if you must needs fight him — and one cannot 
always escape the contest — be sure to use 
the weapons your great Captain has put into 
your hands, and no other. Take the shield 
of faith. Repel every doubt with an " I be- 



106 Fourth Friday in Lent. 

lieve " and an " I know." Be sure you are 
familiar with your sword, which is the Word 
of God. Above all, never for one moment 
give up the contest. The Seneca Indians 
have the correct theory on this subject. 
They hold that no evil spirit or demon can 
hurt a man while he fights it, and does not 
give way to fear; but that if he does so give 
way, it is all over with him. All the powers 
of darkness combined cannot drag the weak- 
est disciple from his Saviour's arms so long 
as the will holds fast to its Lord. Remem- 
ber this, and show yourselves men. 

Remember, too, that there is a sure refuge 
always at hand, always open, always strong 
to save. In old times, he who fled for refuge 
to the altar of the church or temple was 
safe from his foe. So now, that persecuted 
saint who takes refuge in the presence of 
God is in " a little sanctuary." " In the time 
of trouble He shall hide me in His tabernacle; 
yea, in the secret place of His dwelling shall 
He hide me." (Ps. xxvii. 5.) " He shall de- 
fend thee under His wings, and thou shalt 
be safe under His feathers." . (Ps. xci. 4.) 
Safe in that sanctuary, and hidden under 
those wings, we may bid defiance to Satan 
and all his crew. The Lord shall fight for 



The Great Tempter. 107 

us, and we shall hold our peace, (Ex. xiv. 14.) 
Let us, then, go boldly forward in the race 
set before us ; watchful indeed and wary, 
but trusting in the power and love of our 
Captain, who knows our temptations and 
trials far better than we ourselves. " In 
that He Himself hath suffered being tempt- 
ed, He is able to succor them that are 
tempted." (Heb. ii. 18.) Let us cultivate a 
sense of God's Presence. Believe me, it is a 
thing to be cultivated. " If God be for us, 
who can be against us ?" His power is on 
our side so soon as our will is united to His 
will by faith and an honest intention. 

Let us always remember, for our comfort, 
that temptations are not sins, else would 
our Lord not have been without sin. It is 
only when our wills consent to them that 
they become so. "You cannot keep those 
birds from flying over your head," said John 
Wesley to a young disciple who asked for 
counsel on -this subject, " but you can keep 
them from making nests in your hair." But 
never, never play or trifle with temptation. 
Never willfully put yourself in its way. 
When you do, you give Satan an advantage 
of which he is not slow to avail himself. It 
is a story told by some author of antiquity 



108 Fourth Friday in Le?it. 

that the devil once entered into a young- 
Christian woman who was present at a show 
of gladiators. Being summoned to leave her, 
he refused, declaring that he had found her 
on his ground, and she was therefore his 
lawful prey. We may face all the hosts of 
hell when our Lord's business makes it need- 
ful, and we may be sure that in doing so we 
have the Lord on our side; but if we cross 
willfully the line between right and wrong in 
the pursuit of pleasure or business, we have 
no right to think that God's presence will go 
with us there. Nay, we should be careful 
not to approach that line too closely. In 
time of war, the safe place is not near the 
front, and above all not on the neutral 
ground between the armies. There we shall 
probably be treated as the enemy of both 
sides. Let our abiding be on the everlast- 
ing hills of God's truth and law, where His 
sun always shines, and where no foe can ever 
come. 

Ps. xci. i Peter v. 



Heartiness. 109 



FO UR TH SA TURD A YIN LENT. 

HEARTINESS. 

In the collect which we have been con- 
sidering, we find an old-fashioned word 
which means a great deal. We ask God to 
look upon our hearty desires. A hearty de- 
sire is one into which we put our whole 
heart. There may be many things which 
we would like well enough to have for our 
own. There are many wishes which we 
should be pleased to have gratified. But, 
after all, we do not care enough about them 
to make any special effort in the matter. 
But when we heartily desire a thing, we work 
for it. We take every means to bring about 
the gratification of our wish, and we do not 
easily give up and sit down contented with- 
out it. 

It is so in religious matters. A careless 
or worldly man may have at times an uneasy 
feeling that all is not right with him. He 
hears a rousing sermon perhaps. Some friend 
or acquaintance dies suddenly, and he won- 



no FtntrtJi Saturday in Lent. 

ders how he would fare if the same fate 
should overtake himself. He thinks he really 
will take time to consider the matter at some 
future day when he shall not be so busy. He 
even tries to pray a little, though he does 
not know well how to set about it. But his 
heart is not in the matter, and the impres- 
sion soon passes away, leaving the man in a 
worse case than before; for, be it observed, 
nothing hardens the heart like a stifled con- 
viction. 

It is to be feared that this half-heartedness 
is the true reason why so many prayers are 
unanswered, and why so many professed dis- 
ciples of our Lord have so little comfort in 
their religion, and do so little credit to their 
profession. They are half-hearted. They 
have no earnestness in the matter, and would 
even think such earnestness out of place, and 
fanatical. They can show and feel enough of 
enthusiasm on the subject of a business 
enterprise, a game of baseball, a new fash- 
ion, a new opera-singer; but speak to such 
an one of enthusiasm in religious matters, 
and he will look at you in amazement, and 
think you a little cracked. He professes to 
believe all the articles of the Christian faith, 
and bows his head in the creed with all pro- 



Heartiness. 1 1 1 

priety — in church; but talk to him of Heaven 
and Hell, of the love of God, and the judg- 
ments of God as present realities, and you 
make him uncomfortable. He becomes con- 
scious of his own deficiencies, and the feeling- 
is not agreeable. He will get away as soon 
he can, and probably call you a Methodist 
behind your back, if he does not do so to 
your face. 

This half-heartedness is a fatal hindrance 
to growth in grace. I fear many pray for 
holy hearts, who would, after all, be sorry to 
have them. A man prays for grace to cast 
away the works, of darkness, but there are> 
perhaps, certain works of darkness which are 
profitable in a business point of view, and he 
has no desire to cast them away. A woman 
asks that she may perceive and know what 
things she ought to do, but she is conscious 
of certain duties half hidden in the back- 
ground of her mind and conscience, on which 
she does not care to be enlightened, because 
the fulfilling of them would be inconvenient. 
She prays for grace to withstand the world, 
but she does not really wish to withstand it, 
because she loves some of its gifts, and does 
not mean to throw them away. So people 
go on, trying to serve two masters, to please 



H2 Fourth Saturday in Lent. 

God and themselves, and getting no real 
satisfaction from either. They wonder what 
those mean who talk of the blessedness of 
service, of communion with God, of comfort 
in affliction, and the like, and are tempted 
to regard all such utterances either as fanat- 
icism or pretence, because there is nothing 
in their own experience to correspond with 
them. 

Is it any wonder that such prayers are not 
answered, and that such service is not 
blessed ? Would you like it yourself in a 
child or servant ? Surely not. 

Let me beg of you, dear fellow-servant of 
our blessed Master; to examine yourself in 
this matter, and see if you do not find there- 
in the reason why you have no more comfort 
in your religion; no more peace and joy and 
readiness to work for Him who has wrought 
such great things for us. Is the sign of the 
cross still on your forehead, or have the 
kisses of the world worn it away ? Do you 
really and truly love God as you love your 
husband or children, if you have them ? Are 
you ready to sacrifice anything for Him ? 
Suppose that He should offer to release you 
at this moment from every sin, would you be 
willing to have Him do it ? 



Heartiness. 1 1 3 

This whole-hearted service no doubt has 
its trials. Our Lord Himself has told us that. 
" All that would live godly in Jesus Christ 
shall suffer persecution." (2 Tim. iii. 12.) " If 
they have called the master of the house 
Beelzebub, how much mere shall they call 
them of His household ? " (St. Matt. x. 25.) 
You cannot be faithful to the great King 
without offending His enemies. You cannot 
really renounce the world without angering 
the world. You may not have to meet with 
such persecutions as the early disciples did, 
but you will probably be called peculiar, 
affected, Methodistical. But fear nothing. 
You may, and probably will, meet with even 
more serious assaults. Satan will rage when 
he sees you in earnest, and try his best to 
bar your path, or win you away from it. But 
again I say, never fear. The Lord is on your 
side, and will stretch out His right hand to 
be your defense. He will feed you with the 
hidden manna, and give you to drink of the 
water of Life freely. You shall receive the 
mystical gift; the white stone wherein is a 
name written, which no man knoweth saving 
he that receiveth it. (Rev. ii. 17.) Passing 
through the valley of misery, you shall use 
it for a well. The wilderness of this world 
8 



U4 Fourth Sunday in Lent. 

shall blossom as the rose, and the thorny- 
road lead you surely to the city of the great 
King. 

Isa. xii. Rev. ii. 



FO UR TH SUN DA Y IN LENT. 

REFRESHMENT. 

Mid-Lent Sunday is also called Refresh- 
ment Sunday— a very old name, probably 
given with reference to the subject of the 
Gospel for the day, which is the feeding 01 
the five thousand on the lake of Galilee. Dr. 
Gouldburn, in his invaluable book on the 
collects, has shown the connection between 
the collect, Epistle, and Gospel for the day, 
all of which are full of matter for reflection. 
Let us for the present confine our attention 
to the Gospel, and try, by reverent considera- 
tion, to make real to ourselves this wonder- 
ful miracle of our Lord's, and see what lesson 
it has for us. 

It had been a time of special activity for 
our Lord and His more immediate followers. 
The apostles had just returned from their 
first preaching mission. Two by two, they 



Refreshment. 115 

had passed through the lands of Judah and 
Galilee, preaching the glad tidings of the 
Kingdom of Heaven, healing the sick, restor- 
ing the deaf and blind, and casting out evil 
spirits in the name of Jesus. I think of two 
homely, travel-stained men arriving,at night- 
fall, perhaps, in some lonely little village, 
and asking the hospitality which was not at 
such a time likely to be denied them. There 
is nothing about them to distinguish them 
from any common wayfarers, as they partake 
of the plain fare set before them. But there 
is a cloud over the faces of the hosts. The 
elder son, the prop of their age, lies on 
a bed of sickness, and the physician has said 
that there is no release for him save by death. 
The guests rise and go to the bedside of the 
sufferer, who is perhaps hardly conscious of 
their presence, and one of them takes him 
by the hand. " In the name of Jesus of Naza- 
reth, I bid thee arise and walk." In a mo- 
ment the dull eyes brighten, the pale cheek 
flushes, the helpless limbs feel new life, and 
the young man rises, and throws aside the 
useless covering, a well man. The amazing 
news spreads from house to house, and 
soon the whole village is gathered to hear 
and see these wonderful strangers. A 



Ii6 Fourth Sunday in Lent. 

woman, weeping over her dead babe, hears 
the news, and thinks "Oh, had they but 
come before my child died! " Then a strange 
ray of hope darts into her mind. The stran- 
gers have cured one as good as dead. May 
they perhaps waken the dead also ? At all 
events, it will do no harm to ask them. She 
wraps herself in her veil, and goes forth bear- 
ing the little waxen corpse, and returns with 
her child safe and smiling in her arms. 

Many such stories must the apostles have 
had to relate to their Master on their return; 
some tales, possibly, of rejection and scorn 
from those they would have blest. 

But their meeting was destined to be 
interrupted by sad tidings. The disciples of 
John the Baptist had heard of the death of 
their leader, slain by the wiles of a vile woman. 
They had been permitted by Herod to pay 
the last sad duties to his body, and that done 
there was one thing more remaining to them. 
They "went and told Jesus." Where could 
they go, save to that wonderful Being to 
whom their own revered leader had borne wit- 
ness, and whose forerunner he had always 
called himself? We are not told in what 
words He comforted them. But we know 
how He showed His consideration for their 



Refreshment. 1 17 

weariness. " Come ye apart into a desert 
place, and rest awhile." (S. Mark vi. 31.) 

I have often thought, if I were to preach 
an Ash Wednesday sermon, I would choose 
these words for my text. It is the call which 
the Church addresses to her children on that 
day: "Come!" she says; "Come from the 
hurry of business, and the worse and more 
distracting hurry of pleasure. Leave your 
cares behind you for a time. Let the world 
take care of itself. It will do well enough 
without you, as it did before you were born, 
and will do after you are dead. Come into 
a desert place as yet unspoiled by man, and 
rest awhile." 

We are apt to think of a desert as a barren 
and sandy waste, destitute of verdure or 
beauty; but this is not its usual meaning in 
the Bible. It simply denotes an uncultivated 
tract, often used as pasture, and covered with 
grass and flowers in the season. It was to 
•uch a place as this that Jesus now retired 
with the disciples ; to the narrow green 
plain of El Batihah, as it is now called. It 
was a spot about six miles from Capernaum 
by sea, surrounded by high hills, and quite 
uninhabited. Here the weary band might 
hope for a season of quiet and refreshment. 



n8 Fourth Sunday in Lent. 

But they were destined to be disappointed. 
The boat, retarded probably by contrary 
winds, seems to have made but slow progress, 
and when they did at last arrive, they found 
the ground occupied by an eager crowd, 
waiting for the healer, of whose powers they 
had already made proof. 

Here was a disappointment indeed! But 
our Lord shewed no irritation at the failure 
of His plan. He " was moved with compas- 
sion toward them, because they were as 
sheep not having a shepherd; and He began 
to teach them many things " (St. John vi. 
34), and He also healed their sick. 

Here is at once a practical lesson to be 
learned from our Lord's conduct — I mean 
that of patience under interruption and dis- 
appointment. We make a plan, for some 
good enterprise probably, and straightway 
that plan becomes, as it were, something sa- 
cred in our eyes, and we are not only grieved, 
but vexed, if anything happens to hinder us. 
We feel in our secret souls, if we do not 
venture to say so, that we are hardly treated, 
and we are ready to say, nay, perhaps we do 
say, that we will never undertake any such 
thing again. 

In truth, there are interruptions which it 



Refreshment. ng 

is hard to bear with patience; for instancej 
ths way in which idle people take up the 
time of busy people with the veriest 
trifles. 

Yet all these things are part of our life's 
trials, and must be met in the right spirit, 
and turned to some account. In respect to 
our plans, the right way, it seems to me, is 
to sit loosely to them, with a reference in all 
things to a Will higher than ours. "If the 
Lord will, we shall do this or that." (St 
James iv. 15.) If He takes us away from one 
piece of work, it may be because He has 
something better or more important for us 
to do; or that His wisdom sees that this 
particular work is better left undone. . If 
your plan has been made with due regard to 
His glory, depend upon it He will not suffer 
it to fail utterly. 

With regard to those interruptions from 
idle people of which I have spoken, we may 
be able to turn even them to account. We 
may try to give the conversation a serious 
and profitable turn. We may have a chance 
of defending the absent or the calumniated, 
or of recommending some good work. At 
worst we can let patience have her perfect 
work, and thus grow more like that Master 



120 Fourth Monday in Lent. 

whom it is at once our most important work 
and our dearest wish to imitate. 

Ex. xvii. St. John vi. 1-2 1. 



FOURTH MONDAY IN LENT. 

REFRESHMENT SUNDAY— Continued. 

All day long our Lord was engaged in 
teaching the people, and in healing their 
sick. The fact that he did so teach this great 
multitude of common people, and that they 
heard Him gladly, as we know they did (St. 
Mark xii. 37), is surely a sufficient answer to 
those who talk about the danger of giving 
the Scriptures to the unlearned. Meantime 
the disciples no doubt were reposing as they 
shared in their Lord's instructions, and wit- 
nessed His miracles. But as the afternoon 
of that long spring day drew on to its close 
they began to be uneasy. They looked 
abroad over the vast multitude thronging 
the plain, and wondered how they were to 
be fed and lodged, " for divers of them came 
from afar," and there were women and chil- 
dren among them, some of whom, no doubt, 
had just been cured of severe illness. We 



Refreshment Sunday. 121 

can see them consulting together with anx- 
ious faces, and many a troubled glance at the 
Master, and at last they venture to remind 
Him of the lateness of the hour, and the 
loneliness of the place where they were. 
" This is a desert place and the time is far 
spent ; send them away, that they may buy 
food." (St. Mark vi. 36.) But the Lord had 
his own purposes to fulfill, and he answered 
them tranquilly, "They need not depart; 
give ye them to eat ;" and then, as if their 
astonishment were not enough at such a 
proposition under such circumstances, He 
turns to Philip with the question, " Whence 
shall we buy bread, that these may eat ?" 

Philip must have been indeed amazed at 
the question. Buy bread for that great crowd 
of people ! True, there was a market not so 
very far away, in the little city of Bethsaida 
Julius, but it might be doubtful whether so 
small a place could furnish the requisite 
quantity of bread, even if they had the means 
to pay for it. " Two hundred pennyworth 
is not sufficient for them, that every one of 
them might take a little ; " and one of the 
number asks, " Shall we go and buy bread ?'' 

Andrew, whose natural disposition seems 
to have been of that helpful sort which al- 



122 Fourth Monday in Lent. 

ways moves the owner thereof to do some- 
thing practical, here makes a suggestion. 
While others had been talking he had been 
investigating the resources at hand, and he 
now comes forward leading a little boy, and 
announces the result of his inquiries. " There 
is a lad here who has five barley loaves and 
two small fishes." (St. John vi. 9.) With 
what amazed looks his fellow-disciples must 
have regarded him ! Only five loaves and 
two fishes ! He himself was conscious of the 
seeming absurdity, for he added immediately, 
" What are they among so many ? " What, 
indeed ! Hardly enough for two, and here 
were thousands. 

But as the disciples regarded our Lord's 
face they must have been in some measure 
reassured. There was no embarrassment or 
uncertainty to be read there. He Himself 
knew what He would do, as His next words 
showed them : " Make the men sit down." 
Here, at least, was a plain, practical com- 
mand, and cheerfully they hastened to obey. 

In all our perplexities and puzzles we can 
usually find something to do at once, and 
that something leads to something else, till 
by degrees the way is made plain before us. 
The old Saxon motto, "Do the next thing," 



Refreshment Sunday. 123 

is the guide out of many a difficulty. "How 
are we ever to fill this box ? " said one of the 
officers of a certain missionary auxiliary ; 
" we have only money enough to buy half a 
dozen towels." "Very well, let us buy the 
towels," was the answer ; "by the time they 
are hemmed we shall have more." And so 
it proved ; and a better box never gladdened 
a hard-working woman than was sent to that 
faithful teacher. A poor woman in England 
once gave a few shillings, the result of long 
saving, to purchase some Bibles for the poor; 
and out of that gift grew one of the great 
Bible societies which supply the Scriptures 
to hundreds of thousands. A few serious 
words, kindly spoken to a wild young man 
in a diligence, gave to the Moravian Church 
one of the most successful missionaries that 
ever lived. Let us use what we have. It 
may be not so much as the little lad brought 
in his basket, but the Master will accept it 
and use it ; whether it be to the feeding of 
one or ten thousand does not signify, so it is 
to His service. Let us take the first step in 
obedience to His command, and the next 
step will be made plain. It may be but a 
short one, but it will be so much in advance. 
Like the pilgrim in the valley of the shadow 



124 Fourth Tuesday in Lent. 

of death, when we lift up our foot to go for- 
ward, we may not know where, or upon what 
we may set it next ; but be sure the solid 
ground will be there to meet it, so long as 
we are in the way of the Celestial City, 
i Kings xvii. Acts xvii. 16. 



FOURTH TUESDAY IN LENT. 

REFRESHMENT SUN DA F— Continued. 

" Now there was much grass in the place." 
So the men sat down in orderly ranks or 
companies — an arrangement made by our 
Lord's own command, that they might be 
the more easily waited upon. The word 
used by St. Mark signifies parterres, or the 
orderly arrangement of the plants in a vine- 
yard or garden, and the assembly, dressed 
in the gay colors which Orientals affect, must 
have looked somewhat like a great flower- 
garden. Doubtless, all faces were eagerly 
turned toward our Lord, as the people won- 
dered what was coming next. The disciples 
gathered round their Master, amazed, no 
doubt, but ready to obey His order, what- 
ever it might be : and near Him, perhaps, 



Refreshment Sunday. 125 

stood the little lad who had brought the 
provision, his eyes fixed on that face which 
ever had an attraction for children. Jesus 
took in His hands the cakes of barley bread, 
" and when He had given thanks, He brake 
them, and began to distribute them to the 
disciples, and they to the people, and like- 
wise of the fishes, as much as they would." 
(St. John vi. 11.) The original words seem 
to show that the provisions were multiplied 
in our Lord's hands. Here was a sudden end 
of all their perplexities. Here was enough 
and to spare, of palatable and wholesome 
food. It must have been with glad hearts 
that the twelve, aided, no doubt, by the dis- 
ciples of John, passed around among the 
people bearing the unexpected refreshment. 
Doubtless the multitude shared in their joy. 
for many of them were faY from their homes; 
and the prospect of returning hungry, or 
possibly of spending the night supperless in 
the open air, could not have been very agree- 
able. It is no great wonder, perhaps, that 
as they partook of His bounty, the old idea 
of making the Lord a temporal ruler should 
have recurred to their minds. Surely one 
who could so wonderfully provide for his fol- 
lowers would have no difficulty in defying 



126 Fourth Tuesday in Lent. 

the power even of the Romans. It was long 
before the Lord's immediate and trusted dis- 
ciples realized the fact that His kingdom 
was not of this world. 

But the people had eaten all they needed. 
What next ? The next command must also 
have somewhat surprised both the disciples 
and the people. " Gather up the fragments, 
that nothing be lost." Why this exact econ- 
omy on the part of one who could, as they 
had just seen, produce food at will ? How- 
ever, the disciples obeyed without a ques- 
tion,' and soon they had filled twelve of the 
satchels, which all strict Jews carried when 
on a journey (to protect their food from 
ceremonial uncleanness), with the fragments 
which remained of the loaves and fishes. 
And now their work was for the present fin- 
ished. Jesus would be alone for a time ; and 
he dismissed His immediate followers to go 
to the other side of the lake, while He Him- 
self sent the multitude away. The disciples 
seemed to have been somewhat unwilling to 
leave their Lord alone, but His will was law, 
and they betook themselves to the boat 
which had brought them hither. When the 
multitude had at last departed, doubtless 
with many a lingering look behind, He who 



Refreshment Sunday. 127 

had so cheerfully given up His own plan of 
rest and retirement for the sake of teaching 
and feeding them, departed into a mountain 
to pray. At last He was alone ; and how 
grateful to His weary senses must have been 
the solemn quiet and dewy freshness of that 
mountain solitude ! How dear to His heart 
the opportunity of holding undisturbed com- 
munion with His Father! Dear tired mother 
or teacher, or busy housekeeper, are your 
senses also weary and your nerves unstrung 
with perpetual din ? Do you, too, long for 
solitude and silence ? Remember that the 
Lord has been before you in this trial also. 
The most of His active life was passed in a 
crowd, almost always careless and unsympa- 
thizing, often captious and hostile ; and His 
hours of devotion must be stolen from needed 
sleep. 

" Each pang from irritation, turmoil, din," 
is known to Him, and He will give needed 
help and relief. 

Our Lord gave thanks before He distrib- 
uted the bread to the disciples. This was an 
universal custom among the Jews, and the 
Lord has approved it by His example. "He 
who enjoys anything without a blessing, robs 
God," says the Talmud. Yet how many 



128 Fourth T?iesday in Lent. 

Christian families are there in which grace 
before meat is never heard. It looks a little, 
indeed, as if family religion, of any sort, were 
to become a thing of the past. The father 
hastens to his business, and the children to 
their school, without one word of recognition 
for the mercies of the night ; without a sin- 
gle petition for help and guidance through 
the day. The father is, or should be, the 
priest of his own household, to offer up their 
spiritual sacrifices ; but how many never 
think of doing so ! He should be their in- 
structor in divine things ; but how many 
never open the Bible with their children! 
The boys see their father busy till the last 
stroke of the church bell with his Sunday 
papers ; they see the same papers or a novel 
taken up on his return. Is it any wonder 
that they come to think religion a matter of 
secondary importance ? Is it any wonder 
that they think it fit only for women, since 
they see its outward observance left wholly 
to them ? Oh, how many thorns are these 
negligent, indifferent Christian fathers and 
mothers cultivating for their own pillows ! 
It is true that a boy or girl may turn out 
badly, however much pains has been taken 
with the religious training, because in this 



Refreshment Sunday. 129 

world all must make the choice between 
good and evil for themselves ; but at least 
the careful, conscientious parent has not the 
added bitter pang of thinking "my neglect, 
my selfish indulgence, has made the child 
what he is." 

" Gather up the fragments," said our Lord. 
He could create at will enough to feed five 
thousand, yet He would not have the re- 
mainder lost. With what displeasure must 
He not look on the lavish wastefulness of 
His children. Some man takes a good relig- 
ious paper, or more than one. Perhaps he 
finds time to glance at them, perhaps not. 
The expenditure of a cent a week, or the 
sending of a child or servant, would carry 
that paper to some poor man or woman — 
perhaps to some one shut up with illness — 
who would be only too glad to read it. But 
no one thinks of that, and what might give 
aid and comfort to God's afflicted or hard- 
worked child goes to the ragman. The 
partly worn hose or flannel garment share 
the same fate, when a little of the time given 
to some useless bit of fancy work would 
make them fit to bestow on some poor body, 
or to help out a hospital box. I knew a lady 
with a family of sons. When their socks or 



130 Fifth Wednesday in Lent. 

underwear were thrown aside, she had them 
carefully mended and put away in a special 
place; and many a poor hard-working woman 
was helped out of Mrs. Z.'s "give-away 
drawer." We have no right to waste, be- 
cause all that we have, whether of time or 
goods or talent, is not ours, but our Lord's. 
We are but His stewards, and it is required 
of stewards that a man be found faithful. 
Prov. xxxi. St. Luke xiv. 



FIFTH WEDNESDAY IN LENT. 

COMFORT. 

A CERTAIN writer has said that there is no 
more beautiful word in the language than 
the word "comfort." Certainly there is none 
which carries with it more meanings, or one 
which it is harder to define. Rest from 
weariness, freedom from pain, security from 
danger, all these are comprised in the word 
" comfort." But these are, after all, but nega- 
tive, and there is a positive side. The word 
often means consolation. "As one whom his 
mother comforteth, so will I comfort you," 
is God's promise to His people. (Isa. lxvi. 
13.) Think of a little child waking in the 



Comfort. 131 

dark, from some dream of terror. The dark- 
ness is all around him, with its possibilities 
of danger. Who knows what it may hide in 
those dark corners, behind those dimly seen, 
waving curtains ? He can feel no one near 
him. To his excited fancy it seems as if he 
were alone in the universe, and he cries out 
in fear and anguish. But in a moment a 
tender arm is laid over him, a warm kiss re- 
assures him, a well-known voice speaks his 
name, and he sinks to sleep again, sure that 
no evil thing can harm him, because his 
mother is there to be his defense. 

So it often is with the Christian. He 
walks in the midst of trouble. Darkness is 
around and within. His purposes are broken 
off, his plans even for his Master's service are 
frustrated, and, what seems to make his 
trouble worst of all, he is hampered by indif- 
ference, if not by open hostility on the 
part of fellow-Christians and fellow-church- 
members. He says to himself, with David, 
" It is not an enemy that hath done me this 
dishonor ; but it was even thou, my com- 
panion, my guide, and mine own familiar 
friend." He feels almost as if His Lord 
Himself had forgotten him, and he is ready 
to sit down in despair. 



132 Fifth Wednesday in Lent. 

But by and by a ray of light falls athwart 
the darkness. It is the hour for his regular 
devotion, and he will not neglect it. His 
heart feels cold and dead, if not absolutely 
rebellious, but at least he can obey, and he 
takes up his Bible or his prayer-book, opens 
perhaps to the thirty-seventh Psalm, or some 
other like it. 

He reads precious promises of help and 
protection, and deliverance from trouble, 
such as these. " Commit thy way unto the 
Lord, and put thy trust in Him, and He shall 
bring it to pass. He shall make thy right- 
eousness as clear as the light and thy just 
dealing as the noon-day." (Ps. xxxvii. 5.) 
He is made to see that he is but tasting the 
edge, as it were, of that cup which his 
Master drained to the dregs for him. He 
feels that God has not forsaken him, and he 
is by and by able to say, " In the multitude 
of the sorrows that I had in my heart, Thy 
comforts have refreshed my soul." The as- 
surance comes to him that the Lord will use 
all to His own glory and the good of His 
servant, and he is content to tarry the 
Lord's leisure. 

Or take another case. The Christian is 
made aware that he has fallen into sin. He 



Comfort. 133 

has spoken unadvisedly with his lips per- 
haps, and fears that his words may do great 
harm. He has given way to unjust or ex- 
cessive anger, or he has been led into some 
worldly compliance which he now sees to 
have been wrong. Or, worse still, he has 
suddenly awakened to the fact that he has 
for a long time been declining in godliness, 
that he has been living for the world and not 
for his Master. He has gone out of the way 
into By-path meadow, and the road, which 
at first seemed to run close to the highway, 
has turned aside till he has come at least 
within sight of the dwelling of Giant Despair. 
Satan is not slow to take advantage of his 
fall. He tells the sinner that it is plain to 
be seen that he never was a true disciple. 
Could one who had really tasted of the grace 
of God so dishonor his profession ? Or if he 
were once a child of God, is it not as plain as 
day that he is so no longer ? Has he not 
come too far out of the way ever to find his 
path back ? Will he be received even if he 
should return ? Is this the return he has 
made to God for all his benefits, and can 
such black ingratitude ever be forgiven ? 
Such suggestions as these drive the sinner 
almost to desperation. Almost, but not 



134 Fifth Wednesday in Lent. 

quite. His very agony and distress teach 
him how precious was that Lord from whom 
he has turned away, and he will not give him 
up without a struggle at least. 

But he is not left to struggle alone. God 
has not forgotten His child, though that 
child may for a time have forgotten Him. 
He may leave him, or seem to leave him, to 
suffer for a time the penalty of his sins ; for 
as many as the Lord loves, He rebukes and 
chastises. But let the sinner once accept 
the punishment "of his iniquity (Lev. xxvi. 
41) ; let him acknowledge that he is justly 
punished for his offenses, as says the collect 
for the day, and light begins to dawn on the 
night of despair. He, too, opens his Bible, 
and he reads such words as these, " Though 
your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as 
white as snow." (Isa. i. 18.) " If we confess 
our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive 
us our sins, and to cleanse us from all un- 
righteousness." (1 John i. 9.) "Him that 
cometh unto Me, I will in no wise cast out." 
(St. John vi. 37.) And so he casts himself at 
the feet of his crucified Lord, humbly bewail- 
ing his sinfulness, and asking pardon for the 
sake of that very love that he has outraged 
and grieved. Humbly he believes his prayer 



The Sources of Comfort. 135 

is accepted, trusting in God's unchanging- 
promise, though he has for the present no 
evidence in his own feelings that his sins are 
pardoned. By and by the light grows clear-^ 
er. He hears within a sweet voice, sweeter 
than any music of earth, whisper such pre- 
cious words as these : " I, even I, am He 
that blotteth out thy transgressions for 
mine own sake, and will not remember thy 
sins." (Isa. xliii. 25.) Then the Sun of right- 
eousness riseth on His soul with healing in 
His wings, and it is day. 

Ps. xxxii. St. John xvii. 



FIFTH THURSDA Y IN LENT. 

THE SOURCES OF COMFORT. 

The first source of comfort to the disciple 
in distress is his general confidence in the 
goodness of his Lord. " Comfort them with 
a sense of Thy goodness !" asks the collect 
for the sick and the afflicted in the prayer- 
book ; and there is not in that whole won- 
derful volume a sentence more full of mean- 
ing. "My Father is all-wise, therefore He 
cannot make a mistake; He is perfectly holy, 



136 Fifth Thursday in Lent. 

therefore He cannot do an unjust thing; He 
is perfect love, therefore He will never do 
a cruel thing; and He sees and cares for 
me as much as if I were the only child for 
whom He had to care." Thoughts like these 
come to the pilgrim, bowed down by the 
burden and heat of the day ; and they give 
him courage to take up his load and strug- 
gle on toward that rest which remains for 
the people of God — that mansion prepared 
for him, and whose roofs and towers his faith 
sees above the clouds, gleaming in Heaven's 
own sunshine. To souls like this it does 
indeed come to pass that, going through the 
valley of misery, they use it for a well, and 
the pools are filled with water. "Their 
light affliction, which is for a moment, 
worketh for them a far more exceeding 
weight of glory," because " they look not at 
the things which are seen, but at those 
things which are unseen and eternal." (2 Cor. 
iv. 17.) 

The second source of comfort to the Chris- 
tian which we shall consider is the written 
word of God. " In the Lord's word will I 
comfort me." (Ps. lvi. 10.) Here is the 
sure holding-ground for the anchor of faith. 
Our feelings are the sport of every wind that 



The Sources of Comfort. 137 

blows, but the written word remains, and 
remains ever the same. The stricken woman 
whose prop and stay has been taken away, 
perhaps in a moment, and who knows not 
where to turn for help, may read in that 
Word that God is the God of the fatherless, 
and defendeth the cause of the widow. (Ps. 
lxviii. 5.) The invalid, wearied out with the 
life-long pain, which has become such an old 
story that people no longer think of asking 
about it, who feels faith ready to fail, and 
courage to give way under the load, to such 
an one comes the message, " My grace is 
sufficient for thee, for my strength is made 
perfect in weakness." (2 Cor. xii. 9.) The 
aged saint bowed beneath the burden of 
years, perhaps with no child or near friend 
to support his weakness and bear with his 
infirmities, prays, " Forsake me not when I 
am gray-headed " (Ps. lxxi. 16), and the 
Word which supplies the prayer answers it 
with a corresponding promise, "Even to your 
old age I am He ; and even to hoary hairs 
will I carry you." (Is. xlvi. 4.) The repent- 
ant, all but despairing sinner, is told by that 
very righteous and holy God whom he hath 
so grievously offended, " I, even I, am He 
that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine 



138 Fifth Thursday in Lent. 

own sake, and will not remember thy sins." 
(Is. xliv. 22.) And again, " The blood of 
Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin." (1 
John i. 7.) The backslider reads, " I will 
heal their backslidings ; I will love them 
freely." (Hosea xiv. 4.) And to the child of 
God, striving in meekness and faithfulness 
to follow in the steps of his Lord and Mas- 
ter, and to do his commonplace, every task 
for Him, the words of cheer and strength are 
not to be counted. 

The worship and ordinances of the Church 
are perennial springs of help and cheer to 
the Christian. I appeal to your experience, 
faithful fellow-disciples. How many times, 
when it has perhaps been a great effort to go 
to church, has not the very stillness of the 
place fallen like balm on your tired nerves, 
so that your few minutes of mental prayer 
have made you able to realize that you are 
indeed in the presence of Him who has said, 
" When two or three are gathered together, 
there am I in the midst of them" ! (Matt, 
xviii. 20.) How often has the Psalter or the 
lesson contained the very words you needed! 
How often has the sermon or address been 
just what you wanted, and the whole service 
sent you home strengthened and cheerful to 



The Great Consoler. 139 

take up the burden of the week or the day! 
Then there is the crown of all our services — 
the Holy Communion. We " do not feel like 
going," perhaps. We have had but little 
time for preparation. There has been much 
in the week to harass and perplex us. Per- 
haps some slip or fall has clouded our ex- 
perience, and burdened our conscience. But 
we know our duty, and at least we can obey. 
We carry our burden, whatever it may be, 
into the presence of the symbols of our 
Lord's dying love ; perhaps to the very 
altar rail; but when we rise from our knees, 
we find we have left it there. 

Isa. lxv. 2 Cor. 1. 



FIFTH FRIDA Y IN LENT. 

THE GREAT CONSOLER. 

" The Comforter which is the Holy Ghost." 
The third Person of the ever-blessed Trinity 
does not disdain to take the title and office 
of our consoler, as well as that of our teacher 
and guide. He does not disdain to enter the 
lowest dwelling which is open to receive 
Him, nor to hold communion with the 



140 Fifth Friday in Lent. 

youngest and feeblest who seek His aid. It 
is He who opens our heart to understand the 
Scriptures, who directs us to the very word 
we need, who shows us, income passage we 
have read a hundred times, a new meaning 
which we never saw before. It is He who 
inspires our prayers, and He, when our hearts 
are too burdened for words, makes interces- 
sion for us with groanings which cannot be 
uttered. (Rom. viii. 26.) How are we to 
obtain the help of this Divine Comforter ? 
First, by asking for it.. That is one of the 
prayers certain to be answered, whatever is 
refused. " If ye, then, being evil, know how 
to give good gifts to your children, how 
much more shall your Heavenly Father give 
the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him " ! 
(St. Luke xi. 18.) The very greatest gift of 
all is never refused to the poorest suppliant. 
Then, when we have invited our guest, we 
must make our house ready to receive Him. 
We must open the door and be on the watch 
for Him. We must remember, too, that He 
will never share a divided throne. If we are 
entertaining any impure or unworthy guests 
— if we have set up any idols there — if there 
is within any chamber of imagery where we 
pay secret worship, as did the elders of Israel 



The Great Consoler. 141 

whom Ezekiel saw in his vision (Ezek. viii. 
7), the guests must be turned out, the idols 
overthrown, the secret chamber opened to 
the light of God's day, before the Spirit of 
purity will make our heart His shrine. He 
Himself will purify His own temple if we con- 
sent thereto, but we must be willing, and we 
must have no reserves from Him. 

Again, we must be willing to obey His godly 
motions, as the collect has it, and that with 
a prompt and willing obedience. This is not 
always easy or agreeable. One of His offices 
is to convince of sin, of righteousness, and of 
judgment to come. He does not always 
prophecy smooth things, by any means, nor 
does he always apply sweet balms. On the 
contrary, He is a kind but 'stern surgeon, 
who wounds to heal, and gives bitter tonics 
instead of soothing syrups. It is not alto- 
gether pleasant to be told that some favorite 
habit is a sinful indulgence; that some yield- 
ing to the customs of society is conformity 
to the world ; some laxity of doctrine," on 
which we have perhaps prided ourselves as 
showing our liberality, is a cowardly sur- 
render of God's truth. Nevertheless must 
the Heavenly monitor be obeyed, and that 
promptly. Otherwise His voice will grow 



142 Fifth Friday in Lent. 

fainter and fainter and fainter, till it ceases to 
be heard at all. Nay, it is possible to drive 
away the Heavenly visitor altogether, and 
then woe unto us. We had better lose every 
earthly friend than to be forsaken of the 
Holy Spirit. 

It is to be feared that many Christians do 
not realize as they ought the blessed fact of 
the real literal indwelling of the Holy Ghost. 
They read in the Bible such words as these : 
" He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you." 
(St. John xiv. 17.) "We have received not 
the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which 
is of God." (1 Cor. ii. 12.) They feel as if 
it were a kind of presumption to take these 
promises to themselves — as if the real pre- 
sumption did not lie in doubting, instead 
of believing God's word. They read such 
words as these : " The spirit itself beareth 
witness with our spirits that we are the 
children of God." (Rom. viii. 16.) Yet they 
feel no assurance of their adoption, but go 
through life, as it were, with a rope round 
their necks instead of walking freely as God's 
children should, for " where the Spirit of the 
Lord is, there is liberty." (1 Cor. iii. 17.) 

But some one says : " I should be only too 
glad to obtain this blessed assurance of sal- 



The Great Consoler. 143 

vation, but I do not know how. What is the 
way ?" The way is as plain as are all God's 
ways in things of practical importance to us. 
You have but to put out your hand and take 
what is freely offered you. 

A vessel sailing to Brazil once saw a barque 
flying a signal of distress, and bearing down 
on her, asked what was the matter. " For 
God's sake, give us water ! we have not had 
a drop for three days," was the cry from the 
distressed vessel. The answer was instant. 
" Let down your bucket and draw it up, man ! 
You are in the mouth of the Amazon." 
These poor creatures had been dying of 
thirst for three days, though they were sail- 
ing on the greatest stream of fresh water in 
the world, because they had lost their reckon- 
ing and did not know where they were. So 
it too often is with the disciple. He walks in 
the midst of unnumbered blessings. The 
stream of living water flows at his side ; the 
tree of Life grows beside it ; yet he is hungry 
and thirsty, just because he will not take the 
things which are freely offered of God. " If 
ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be 
established." (Isa. vii. 9.) 

Ps. lxiii. Gal. v. 



144 Fifth Saturday in Lent. 



FIFTH SATURDAY IN LENT. 

THE USE OF COMFORT. 

" Surely there can be no question about 
that !" I hear some one say. 

" The use of comfort is to make people 
comfortable." That is one use, no doubt, 
but not the only nor the principal one. It 
is to be feared, however, that many sincerely 
devout people take this view of the mat- 
ter. In spiritual as in worldly matters we 
are prone to think far too much of our 
own enjoyment. Some good people, indeed, 
measure their spiritual condition by their 
enjoyment. If they are happy, they think 
all is well with them. This is not always a 
safe test. We may be glorying in a very 
mistaken estimate of our own spiritual con- 
dition, as did the Corinthian Church, when 
St. Paul wrote them. " Your glorying is not 
good." They were mightily puffed up in 
their own esteem, while they were tolerating 
among them the vilest sins, such as even 
the idolatrous Gentiles were ashamed of. 
(i Cor. v. i-8.~) 



The Use of Comfort. 145 

The use of comfort is to strengthen us for 
the work which God gives us to do. " The 
God of all comfort comforteth us in all our 
tribulation," writes St. Paul; and why ? 
" That we may be able to comfort them 
which are in any trouble, by the comfort 
wherewith we ourselves are comforted of 
God." (2 Cor. i. 3, 4.) We are comforted 
that we may be able to console others, just 
as we are taught in order that we may teach 
others. 

Dear fellow-sufferer, if in your sick-room 
your Lord has sent you a blessing, cannot 
you contrive to send that blessing on to 
some other sufferer ? He has sent you, let 
us say, a cheering message by a book or 
paper. Can you not pass it on to some one 
else ? He has given you a cheering thought. 
Can you not give a friend or attendant the 
benefit of it ? Some one brings you a pattern 
for embroidery or knitting. It will do you 
all the more good if you use it to make a 
Christmas gift for some other invalid who 
does not enjoy as many pretty things as 
yourself. A lady of my acquaintance once 
received from a wealthy and generous friend 
a box of very fine forced strawberries. She 
sent a part of them to an old lady in a 



146 Fifth Saturday in Lent. 

charitable institution, whose failing appetite 
could hardly be tempted to take food at all. 
The sight of a dish of strawberries in March 
was such a wonder that it led her to eat 
quite a good meal; and a year afterwards 
she spoke with delight of " those beautiful 
berries your mother sent me." I mention 
this as a specimen of the way a kindness 
may be passed on. I believe that act of 
thoughtful kindness prolonged for several 
years a useful life. 

There are those who carry an atmosphere 
of comfort with them wherever they go. 
They may not be very brilliant or very ac- 
complished, but every one is glad to see 
them. They have something pleasant to 
say. Such a person does not tell a rheumatic 
patient of her grandmother who was unable 
to feed herself for years, or suggest to one 
suffering from a surgical operation that 
people in such circumstances almost always 
go into a decline. (I have known of these 
very things being done more than once.) I 
once suffered for several months from the 
effects of a cat's bite, and I suppose that 
more than half the people to whom the 
story was told said, " I should think you 
would be afraid of hydrophobia !" With a 



The Use of Comfort. 14* 

nervous or apprehensive person the effect 
might have been serious. Oh how many 
heartaches and tears would be saved to inva- 
lids, if those who visit them would try to think 
of something pleasant and cheering to say! 

God sends us comfort, not that we may sit 
down and selfishly enjoy it, but that we may 
be strengthened for the work which is still 
before us, whether that work be active doing, 
or patient suffering, or quietly waiting on 
His will. Comfort is not an end, but a means, 
and it is much more likely to last if we use 
it in this way, than if we sit idly down to en- 
joy it. The Lord gives to all his children, 
blessed seasons of rest and enjoyment. As 
the twenty-third Psalm says, He makes them 
to lie down in green pastures, and feedeth 
them by still waters. But He does not 
always keep us there. He sets before them 
many a hill to climb, many a dark valley to 
pass through, before we reach the land of 
Beulah, and the Celestial city. But the 
Holy Ghost, which is the comforter, will 
always abide with us, and we can truly say 
"In the multitude of sorrows which I had 
in my heart, Thy comforts have refreshed 
my soul." (Ps. xciv. 19.) 

Ps. xxxvii. Heb. xii. 



148 Fifth Sunday in Lent. 



FIFTH SUNDAY IN LENT. 

THE GOVERNMENT OE GOD. 

It has been said, and I think truly, that 
almost any government is better than none. 
A good government is an unspeakable bless- 
ing — not always appreciated, I fear, by those 
who have never lived under any other. 
Think for a moment what it is to dwell 
under a rule where every one's rights are 
safe; where no one can be punished, except 
openly, and by due process of law ; where 
every poor man's house is his castle ; where, 
amid the excitement of a hotly contested 
election, women and children walk the streets 
in absolute safety: and then contrast this 
state of things with one in which no man, 
great or small, feels himself secure; where 
any man or woman may be torn from home 
and friends and thrown into prison or 
sent into life-long exile, with no chance of 
redress, and knowing that the nearest and 
dearest friends are utterly ignorant of the 
fate of husband or wife, father or mother. It 



The Government of God. 149 

seems to me a pity that those who complain 
so bitterly of the few abuses of a good and 
free government, should not for a little 
while try the tender mercies of a bad one. 

The best government, however, being as 
it is the work of man, is liable to imperfec- 
tion in its constitution, or abuse in its admin- 
istration. How happy, then, is he who lives 
under a ruler who can and will do no wrong. 
Such a ruler is the Lord our Governor. The 
best of earthly governments can only legis- 
late for classes, and even beneficent laws 
often bear hardly on individuals ; but God's 
rule is that of a father, who sees in each per- 
son not only a subject, but a child ; who 
knows the needs of each one better than 
himself, and who grudges His children no 
innocent pleasure. Is it any wonder that 
the Church teaches us to pray for the rule of 
such a sovereign as a blessing ? 

In translating this collect from the Latin 
original, the reformers have substituted the 
words "Thy people" for "Thy family," 
thinking, probably, that the word corre- 
sponded better with the idea of government. 
But, after all, a family needs a stable and just 
government as much as a state, and it is as 
a family that the Lord rules his people. The 



150 Fifth Sttnday in Lent. 

state lays down an inflexible rule, to which 
every citizen is expected to conform ; but a 
wise parent does not act in this way. She 
studies the disposition of each child, and has 
a different system for each one, correspond- 
ing to its temperament and needs. So it is 
with God's government. To Him there are 
no " masses." He does not drive His flock 
like a mercenary drover, but " He calleth His 
own sheep by name and leadeth them out." 
(St. John x. 3.) He is to each one what He 
is to no other. "To him that overcometh 
will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and 
will give him a white stone, and in the stone 
a new name written, which no man knoweth 
saving he that receiveth it." (Rev. ii. 17.) 

The state punishes offenses against the 
laws with rigid severity, and very rightly. 
The security of the honest citizen demands 
such action. But it has no thanks and no 
praise for the obedient and loyal subject. He 
has but done what was expected of him. The 
loyal subject of God's government, on the 
contrary, has the satisfaction of knowing 
that his ruler sees his obedience, and is grati- 
fied with it. Like Enoch, he has this tes- 
timony, that he has pleased God. God notes 
the first effort of a little child as well as the 



The Government of God. 151 

crowning sacrifice of an Abraham, and re- 
wards the poor negro Sunday-school teacher, 
trying- in imperfect English to tell the little 
he knows about God and the Bible to some 
one more ignorant than himself, as He does 
a St. Paul preaching to the polished Athe- 
nians on Mars Hill. Surely there must be, to 
the believer, wonderful joy and strength in 
the thought that what he does gives pleas- 
to his Heavenly Father. 

There is no escaping from the government 
of God. A man who is dissatisfied with the 
rule of the United States, or who by crime 
or misdemeanor has brought himself within 
reach of its penalties, may go and live some- 
where else ; but there is no getting out of 
this universe, which God rules in every cor- 
ner. Neither can he escape by denying 
God's authority, or making light of His 
claims. The earthly commonwealth admits 
no such excuse ; much less the Heavenly. 
The man may rebel furiously. He may wish 
that it were possible even to pull down the 
great Ruler from His throne. It makes no 
difference. He has no choice but to submit 
at last, but he has the choice as to whether 
his submission shall be that of the criminal 
on his way to the scaffold, or the glad obe- 



152 Fifth Monday in Lent. 

dience of the loving child who has full con- 
fidence in his father's justice and love. 
Ps. xcvii. Phil. i. 



FIFTH MONDAY IN LENT. 

CAESAR'S HOUSEHOLD. 

The Lord's government, as we have seen, 
is that of a parent, in that He legislates, not 
for masses, but for individuals ; and His ob- 
ject, in all that He does and leaves undone, 
is to make His children better and in the 
long run happier. The views and plans of 
the wisest parent are necessarily bounded 
by a very limited horizon, but the Lord sees 
the lives of His children from their first 
beginning — not indeed to the end, for there 
is no end, but to the farthest reach of eter- 
nity — and He legislates for them in " the 
whole of their duration," as President Ed- 
wards has it. It is perhaps for this reason, 
speaking with reverence, that Christians 
often find themselves in about the last places 
they themselves would have chosen as likely 
to conduce to growth in grace. We are apt 
to fret at this, and to think we could do 



CcBsars Household. 153 

much better somewhere else. We think if 
we could only attend such and such a church, 
or live in some other place, or attend such 
and such classes, we could do so much bet- 
ter ; and, very possibly, we neglect the work 
that God has given us for something which 
is not our work at all. 

There is a passage in the Epistle to the 
Philippians which at first sight may appear 
to mean very little, but which seems to me 
very suggestive. St. Paul, writing from his 
prison at Rome to the church at Philippi, 
says, " All the saints salute you, chiefly they 
that are of Caesar's household." (Phil. iv. 22.) 

Surely this was a very strange place in 
which to look for saints — about the last 
place, humanly speaking, in which we should 
be likely to find them. The Caesar was 
Nero — a name which has become a synonym 
for lust, cruelty, and rampant folly of every 
kind ; and his court was just what we should 
expect the court of such an emperor to be. 
It was the very central resort of murderers, 
informers, men and women practiced in every 
namable and un - namable wickedness of 
that vile age. One would as soon have 
looked for the bliss of Paradise in the foulest 
pool of Dante's hell, as for saints in such a 



154 Fifth Monday in Lent. 

household, especially when the profession of 
the Christian faith involved no little danger 
to liberty and life. The persecution of 
Christians had not at that time reached the 
height to which it attained afterwards ; 
nevertheless, every Christian was looked 
upon with suspicion and contempt. Their 
great teacher and apostle was a prisoner, 
chained night and day to a soldier who 
watched him, and his imprisonment was 
more than likely to end in an ignominious 
death. Yet, in spite of these opposing cir- 
cumstances, there were saints in Caesar's 
household, and, it would seem, not a few. 

It seems to me that we may all learn a 
good lesson from this short passage. We 
are so apt to lay our shortcomings to the 
account of circumstances, which is, in fact, 
laying them at the door of Providence. " If 
I were not so much engrossed in business," 
says John. " If I had not so many family 
cares," says Jane, " I might do some Church 
work." " There is no pleasure in going to 
church and Bible class here," says another. 
" If I only lived in the city ! we cannot 
expect to do much in a place like this," I 
heard a Christian man say. " If we had a 
first-class preacher and a good quartette 



C Cesar's Household. 155 

choir we might do something." As if the 
gift of the Holy Spirit depended on a fine 
preacher and a fine choir ! But we do more 
than this: we lay upon circumstances the 
blame of our own heart sins. We should 
not be irritable and fretful, only that there 
is so much to annoy us. We should not 
make unkind remarks and tell scandalous 
stories about our neighbors, only that every 
one does so ; and so on to the end of the 
chapter. No Christian will deny, if asked 
the question out and out, that his Father in 
Heaven has ordered, or at the least per- 
mitted, the circumstances of his life. Say 
that we are placed in a country parish, where 
there is little or no enthusiasm for any good 
cause, and where most of the parishioners 
think they have done their duty nobly when 
they have helped to keep their pastor on the 
outside verge of starvation, instead of the in- 
side. Well, He places us there because He has 
work for us there — some work which no one 
could do so well as you or I. Let us try to 
find out what that work is, and to do it 
faithfully. We shall grow in grace ourselves, 
and no one can do that without benefiting 
others. Or He has put one of His chosen 
ones in a place where he has no Christian 



156 Fifth Monday in Lent. 

sympathy — perhaps among unbelievers and 
scoffers. Take courage. Bad as they may 
be, they are probably saints themselves, 
compared to the men and women with whom 
they of Caesar's household were brought in 
daily contact. You may have good work 
to do among them. A little leaven leaveneth 
the whole lump. When the Rev. Mr. Low- 
der entered the district of St. Peter's, in 
the east of London, there were not a dozen 
Christian men in the parish. He was hooted 
and pelted in the street, and on one occa- 
sion a ring of his friends had to fight for his 
life against a howling mob of ruffians. Every 
other house was a house of ill-fame; when 
he died, after twenty-three years' service, 
there was not one such to be found in the 
parish; and by the streets where he had been 
stoned and all but murdered, he was carried 
to his burial through throngs of weeping 
men and women, hundreds of whom walked 
miles to see him laid in the grave. 

A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. 
But, then, the leaven must be living and 
warm. Frozen yeast is no good, as every 
housewife knows. " I got my father and 
mother to come to church last Sunday," 
said a dear little child with sparkling eyes. 



The Household of God. 157 

" It was so nice!" He had been laboring for 
that result for months. He would have been 
one of the saints in Caesar's household. And 
I have no doubt that those saints found 
there, were of a pretty robust and earnest 
description. They would hardly have stay- 
ed away from the gathering in St. Paul's 
cabin on the first day of the week because 
they had not the latest fashion in gown or 
sandal, or even to hear the court poet recite 
his ode, or to learn the last news from Gaul 
or Britain. (2 Kings v.; 1 Peter ii.) 

A part of this chapter was printed in the 
Kalendar. 



FIFTH TUESDAY IN LENT. 

THE HOUSEHOLD OF GOD. 

As has been noticed before, the reformers, 
in translating this collect from the original 
Latin, saw fit to render the word "famil-. 
iam," that is to say, household or family, by 
" people," thinking probably that the word 
corresponded better to the idea of govern- 
ment. It is perhaps difficult to see the apt- 
ness of the change, since, as has been ob- 



158 Fifth Tuesday in Lent. 

served, a family certainly needs governing 
quite as much as a state. 

In three other places is the Church of God 
spoken of as a family. In the collect for 
Good Friday we beseech God to behold "this 
His family." In that for the fifth Sunday 
after Epiphany, we ask Him " to keep His 
Church and household in His true religion ;" 
and again, on the twenty-second Sunday 
after Trinity, we beg Him to keep His house- 
hold, the Church, in continual godliness. 
The great Church catholic, then, is to be 
thought of, not only as God's kingdom, but 
as His family. It is under this latter aspect 
that I wish now to consider it. 

A family is not "a fortuitous concourse of 
atoms." It consists of a number of members, 
either related by blood or united by a com- 
mon purpose. Now the very idea of a mem- 
ber is that of a part of some organization 
differentiated or set apart for some office for 
which it is specially fitted by structure or 
position, or both. The very simplest living 
creature— the very germ cell from which the 
lowest seaweed is produced — has its parts 
so distinguished, and the higher we rise in 
the scale, the more striking are the differ- 
ences. The family is an organism, and it 



The Household of God. 159 

follows that every member of the same has 
his own " vocation and ministry," which no- 
body can fulfill as well as himself. "The 
Lord has chosen him." (1 Chron. xxviii. 10.) 
He has appointed his place and set his task 
before him. Surely this is a great honor. 

The great trouble is that the member thus 
appointed does not see his work, and he 
does not see it, for the most part, because he 
will not. Perhaps he thinks his appointed 
task too humble. He thinks it beneath his 
capacity. He is too often like a certain little 
girl, who was set by her mother to watch 
that the bread did not run over, but who 
thought it would be much finer to run the 
sewing machine. The result may easily be 
imagined. A woman who wished to under- 
take some Church work was invited to begin 
by taking a class from the infant room. She 
declined, saying that she would feel herself 
to be throwing away her time teaching such 
ignorant little ones. She was allowed to try 
a class of grown-up girls. She soon found 
out her mistake. She complained that the 
girls were always asking questions and mak- 
ing remarks, and at last she threw up the 
work in disgust, and there was the end of her 
aspirations after Church work. If she could 



160 Fifth Tuesday in Lent. 

only have had something congenial, she 
said, it would have been different. 

Another church member was fired with 
enthusiasm on hearing an eloquent missionary 
sermon. She only wished that she could go 
out to Africa. That would, indeed, be worth 
while. But when it was suggested that she 
might give of an abundant wardrobe to help 
fill a missionary box, .she rejected the idea 
with some tartness. She did not take so 
much pains with her things, to give them to 
a common negro preacher's wife ! 

There are several inconveniences resulting 
from this unwillingness or inability of the 
members of God's family to recognize and 
do their own work. One of them, and that 
not the least, is the loss to the member him- 
self — a loss of opportunities of usefulness, and 
of growth in grace. The member which is 
never used in its appropriate office loses its 
vigor, and often becomes paralyzed beyond 
recovery. We have all heard of the East 
Indian devotees, who hold their hands above 
their heads till they grow into that position, 
and cannot be taken down ; and I have 
somewhere read of a nun who never used her 
hands, but kept them clasped in the attitude 
of prayer till the joints became useless. We 



The Household of God. 161 

think such conduct a horrible misuse of 
God's gifts, and rightly ; but we should do 
well to examine ourselves, lest we fall into 
the same error with respect to our spiritual 
faculties. But as a limb which has been 
partly paralyzed by misuse or disuse may 
often be restored by care and exercise, so no 
one need despair of regaining a good meas- 
ure of usefulness, however faulty they may 
have been in the past. 

Another trouble is that the uselessness of 
some members of the body throws additional 
work on the others. Everyone knows that 
when the skin refuses its office, the lungs 
and other bodily organs are overworked, 
and often become diseased in consequence. 
Think, for a moment, what would be the 
effect if the work of any ordinary parish were 
fairly divided among those who were able to 
do their share, though that share were ever 
so little. Suppose, for instance, that every 
woman who is able should lay by two cents 
a week for the women's auxiliary, and should 
devote one hour a week to working for it! 
Suppose that every man capable of teaching 
a class of boys should next Sunday offer to 
do so ! Suppose every church member who 
has not a valid excuse should be ready to 



1 62 Fifth Tuesday in Lent. 

undertake any piece of work pointed out by 
the rector ! A venerable saint of God once 
remarked that there were in almost every 
church two classes of willing members— a 
small class who were willing to do all the 
work, and a large class who were willing they 
should. How would the labors of the first 
class be lightened if the second class would 
awake to their duty! 

Dear friends, let us examine ourselves 
whether we are doing our duty as members 
of the Church, which is the Lord's body. 
Let us see whether we have been shrinking 
or standing idly aside, and in the way of 
others, as idle folk almost always are. And 
if we find, after honest inquiry, that such has 
been the case, let us resolve that it shall be 
so no more. Let us ask forgiveness for all 
that is past, and with humility and docility 
strive hereafter, in the words of the cate- 
chism, " to do our duty in that state of life to 
which it shall please God to call us." 
Neh. iv. Rom - xii - 



The Household of God. 163 



SIXTH WEDNESDAY IN LENT, 
THE HOUSEHOLD OF GOD.— {Continued.) 

ONE of the principal duties of the members 
of the household or family is loyalty — faith- 
fulness to their head and to each other. 
The word covers a great deal. So far as 
our Great Head is concerned, it means 
obedience first of all — constant, unquestion- 
ing, cheerful obedience. That, and that alone, 
is the true test of our love ; as He Himself 
tells us : " He that hath my commandments 
and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me." 
" He that loveth Me not, keepeth not my 
sayings." (S. John xiv. 21-24.) We are to 
obey, not when we feel like it, not when it is 
easy, not alone when we are in the society 
of fellow-disciples, but at all times, and in all 
places. Without such loyalty, no protesta- 
tions of affection, no outbursts of enthusiasm, 
no efforts of church or missionary zeal, are of 
any value in the sight of our Master. 

We are " to keep and seek for all the com- 
mandments of the Lord our God." (1 Chron. 



1 64 Sixth Wednesday in Lent. 

xxviii. 8.) We are 'to study His written Word 
diligently, and not only so, but we are to 
watch carefully for indications of His will in 
our every-day lives — for occasions of obedi- 
ence and service. There is not one of us but 
can see, on looking back, a hundred occasions 
of doing God service, which we have allowed 
to pass unimproved simply from the want of 
watchfulness. The little events of our daily 
lives are so many angel messengers bringing 
words from our dear Head, but too often we 
do not see their lovely faces, because we 
never look at them till they have passed us 
by. 

The path of obedience is not always made 
smooth and easy for us, any more than it 
was for our Leader. The gate is strait, 
the path is narrow, the hills are high, the 
waters deep. It was when the disciples were 
crossing the lake in obedience to the Lord's 
command that they met with the storm. It 
was when they were laboring in His cause 
that they were to be scourged and stoned 
and slandered by the very people they were 
trying to benefit. Our very carefulness and 
zeal for Him may lead us into collision, yes, 
even with our fellow-servants. But what 
then ? The disciple is not above his Master, 



The Household of God. 165 

nor the servant above his Lord. He has 
never promised us an easy journey. It is 
much that He has placed in our way many a 
living spring and many a flower and shady 
tree, and that He shows us, from time to 
time, from His Delectable Mountains, a view 
of that Celestial City which is to be our 
journey's end. 

We are to be loyal not in deed only, but in 
word as well; and, strange as it may sound, 
I believe this latter kind of loyalty to be 
rather more rare than the former. There are 
many disciples who will obey the Master, 
often at a great sacrifice, who will never open 
their lips for Him. They will hear His name 
lightly spoken of, His claims derided or 
denied, and never open their mouths in His 
defense or to assert their own faith in Him. 
They will believe Him to be the only way of 
salvation, and yet never make one effort to 
bring to Him their servants, their work- 
peeple, even their own children. An officer 
who should behave in this way where the 
honor of his flag was concerned would have 
the straps torn from his shoulders. We need 
not sound a trumpet before us, nor make any 
parade of our own goodness ; but we can, 
and we ought always, to own our allegiance 



1 66 Sixth Thursday in Lent. 

to Him, and to speak for Him. And to the 
end that we may do this, we must take care 
to walk so that our lives shall not contradict 
our words, and that we may speak from our 
own experience. " We have seen Him ! " is 
the argument which no infidel can answer. 
Is. lviii. S. John xiv. 



SIXTH THURSDA Y IN LENT. 

THE HOUSEHOLD OF GOD.— Continued. 

The members of a family or household 
owe a duty, not only to their head, but to 
each other. They are bound in honor to 
help one another when help is needed, to 
sustain each other in trials, and to bear each 
other's burdens; and the honor of one is the 
honor of all, and the shame of one is the 
shame of all. 

So it is in the Church, which is the house- 
hold of God. We are members of one body, 
and so of each other. If one member suffers, 
others suffer with it ; and not one can grow 
in spiritual grace and strength without di- 
rectly or indirectly benefiting others. If one 
member is poor or afflicted in mind, body, or 



The Household of God. 167 

estate, his fellows are bound to help him. If 
he be assailed with slander or detraction, 
the others are bound to defend him ; and so 
on to the end of the chapter. 

I suppose that no one — certainly no 
church-member — will deny that these words 
are true in theory; there are many, thank 
God, to whom they are true in practice. 
Would to God they were so to all ! But, 
alas ! to how many are those with whom 
they worship on Sunday, with whom they 
kneel at the chancel rail even, of no more 
real interest than the horses they pass in 
the street. How many will sit next to a 
person in church for years, and never ex- 
change a greeting. How many actually 
look down on their fellows who work for a 
living, or who are not of their particular 
set ! A woman has been known to object 
to the formation of a church guild because 
" it would bring in everybody on an equal 
footing. We would rather confine the thing 
to our own set." It is to be hoped such ex- 
treme instances are rare ; but that rector or 
church worker is exceptionally happy who 
has never found his efforts for the good of 
the parish hampered by such feelings, and 
prejudices. 



1 68 Sixth Thursday in Lent. 

Again, a woman in poor or even moderate 
circumstances will not go to church herself, 
or send her children to Sunday-school, be- 
cause she cannot dress herself or them as 
well as somebody with twice her means. 
She is always looking out for affronts, and 
resents every kindness and attention as an 
attempt at patronage. 

Nor is this the worst. Members of the 
same church will not be content with 
neglect or mere passive envy. They will 
actually try to injure one another. It is a 
shame to have to say it, but it is true. A 
man or woman will kneel at the altar with 
another, and partake the emblems of their 
dying Saviour's love. They will do this, and 
then, before they are fairly out of sight of the 
church door, will repeat a scandalous story 
to that person's disadvantage — a story which 
they do not know to be true, and which 
there would be no use in telling if it were. 
Two communicants will quarrel, and keep 
up a grudge for years. I have known a 
person leave her parish church and go to 
another because, as she said, she could not 
go to the communion with such an one ; as 
if the Lord's body were divided into parishes! 
So the Lord is shamed and wounded in the 



The Household of God. 169 

house of His friends, and the world says, 
ironically, "See how these Christians love 
one another!" 

Oh, dear friends, fellow members of Christ, 
saved by the same infinite love and pity, 
washed in the same atoning blood, ought 
these things so to be ? Are we not fasting 
for strife and debate when we pretend to 
keep Lent ? Have we not all one Father ? 
Has not God created us ? " Why do we 
deal treacherously, every man against his 
brother ? " (Mai. ii. 10.) Can the eye say to 
the hand, " I have no need of thee ! " or, 
again, the head to the feet, " I have no need 
of you!" (1 Cor. xii. 21.) Can we wonder 
that the world does not care for the Church, 
while it sees the members of the church so 
indifferent, to say the least, to one another ? 
Oh, let this holy season see every grudge 
renounced, every feeling of envy or pride 
put away, every quarrel* made up ! Let the 
blessed feast of Easter see us working and 
praying and loving as one in our risen Lord ! 
So shall we be meet partakers of that Holy 
Table. So shall the power of the Church 
for good be increased a thousand-fold, and 
the Lord pour out a blessing till there shall 
be no room to receive it. 

Mai. ii. 1 Cor. xii. 



170 Sixth Thursday in Lent. 



SIXTH FRIDA Y IN LENT. 

THE HOUSEHOLD OF GOD.— Continued. 

We must never forget that we are mem- 
bers of our Lord's great family, wherever we 
may be. The earthly family tie is not 
broken by absence, by distance, or even by 
death. The brother in California, the father 
on the distant frontier, are the brother and 
father still, followed by faithful prayers, by 
fond wishes, and remembered with tender 
tears at every family anniversary. Even 
though the wanderer be a prodigal as well, 
though it come to this, that his name is 
never heard, yet he is not forgotten. His 
place is empty, and must remain so, because 
it can be filled by none but himself. He may 
have forgotten his duty and renounced his 
family name, but the tie of blood is still 
there, and he cannot break it if he would. + 

It is so in the Household of God. Once a 
member, always a member. We may wan- 
der away, we may ignore our duties and for- 
get our birthright ; like the prodigal, we 



The Household of God. 17 1 

may journey into a far country and waste 
our substance — which is not ours, but our 
Father's — with riotous living ; but though 
rebellious, we are His children still. But not 
to speak of that case at present, let us look a 
little at one or two others. You, my friend, 
have not been to church in months, perhaps 
years. You are shut up by illness or infirm- 
ity, and cannot go into the house of the 
Lord. It is a great misfortune, no doubt ; 
and yet it is not as bad as it might be. You 
are not cut off from the Lord's family, nor 
even from the services of the sanctuary. 
With your Bible and prayer-book you can 
follow the Church services throughout the 
Christian year. Some kind friend will keep 
you informed of the work that is going on in 
the parish, and you may perhaps be able 
now and then to give it a little help. Your 
church paper or missionary magazine will 
tell you the news of the Church at large, and 
you can at least follow with your prayers 
the good enterprises of which the time is so 
full. And if you cannot go to the Holy 
Communion, your pastor will gladly bring it 
to you. It is a wonder to me that invalids 
do not oftener avail themselves of this great 
privilege. Many persons seem to think it a 



172 Sixth Friday in Lent. 

service reserved for dying hours. " Has your 
sister had the Holy Communion since she 
was sick ? " was the question asked of an in- 
telligent English woman. " Oh, no ! " was 
the answer, in a tone of surprise, " we do not 
think her in any danger." It is to be feared 
that too many look on this ordinance as a 
kind of magic rite, by which they are some- 
how to be bewitched into Heaven at last, 
however they may have neglected it in their 
lifetime. 

To those who are by absence deprived of 
the services of our Church I would say the 
same. Never allow yourself to forget your 
church ties, any more than you would forget 
your family relations on account of absence, 
but cherish them all the more. I would not 
have you stay away from the public worship 
of your fellow Christians, or refuse to help 
them in their good works. On the contrary, 
I would have you assist them in every pos- 
sible way, and maintain the most friendly 
relations with them. But never, never forget 
your own household of faith. If possible let 
no Sunday or holy-day pass without joining 
in her worship. Work for her, pray for her, 
speak for her, at all proper times. How often 
has it happened that one such faithful mem- 



The Household of God. 173 

ber has been the seed from which has grown 
a vine bearing fruit unto eternal life ! You 
cannot be deprived of all church privileges 
so long as you have your prayer-book, and 
if you use faithfully what you have, the Lord 
will send you others. Above all things, never 
allow yourself to forget that you are a mem- 
ber of the Lord's body. 

It is possible that this book may fall into 
the hands of some one who has forgotten his 
birthright, who, like the Scripture prodigal, 
has gone into a far country, and is trying to 
satisfy the hunger of his soul with the husks 
of this world — with money or land, or low, 
vile pleasures fit only for swine. To such 
an one let me say, your place in your 
Father's house and heart and table is still 
open to you. No one has taken it. No one 
ever will take it. It stands waiting for you, 
and unless you come home to occupy it, it 
must stand forever empty. Oh, my brother, 
my sister, remember that you are still God's 
child ! You must be so, you cannot help 
yourself. Rebellious you may be, disobe- 
dient, ungrateful, lost to love, even to shame; 
you are still the child of God. Even though 
you have never been baptized in His name. 
He created you, and He has cared for you 



174 Saturday Before Palm Sunday. 

all these years. Return, then, to His House 
and His love while there is yet time, lest at 
last the door should be shut, and you be left 
to yourself, an orphan in the universe. 
Dan. iv. St. Luke xv. 



SATURDAY BEFORE PALM 
SUNDAY. 

THE ALABASTER BOX. 

THE selections of Holy Scripture set forth 
for the days of Holy Week are so abundant 
and so important that any one who studies 
them as they deserve will have little time 
for any other reading.* I propose, therefore, 
merely to glance at some one event of each 
particular day, following the chronology 
adopted by Dean Farrar. 

After the excitement which followed the 
raising of Lazarus, our Lord withdrew from 
Jerusalem to a little city called Ephraim, on 
the edge of the desert, where He seems to 
have spent some weeks in quiet and restful 
retirement with His disciples. Six days be- 

* For the same»reason I have named no selections from 
the Bible. 



The Alabaster Box. 175 

fore the Passover He returned to the neigh- 
borhood of Jerusalem. He did not, however, 
enter the city immediately, but betook Him- 
self to the little village of Bethany, the home 
of His chosen friends Mary and Martha, and 
their brother Lazarus. It was at a supper 
made for their honored guest that Mary's 
full heart overflowed in that offering which 
has made her name sweet through all the 
ages, and on which her Lord bestowed the 
emphatic commendation, " She hath done 
what she could." 

She hath done what she could ! She gave 
her Lord the very best of all that she pos- 
sessed — the alabaster vase of precious per- 
fume, costly as gold; an article of luxury, 
even with the rich. Are we doing the same? 
Do we give Him the best of our time, our 
means, our labors ? Or do we, like the cov- 
etous Jews rebuked by the prophet, offer 
Him only that which no one else will thank 
us for? "Cursed be the deceiver who hath 
in his flock a male, and voweth and sacri- 
ficeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing." (Mai. 
i. xiii.) 

She hath done what she could ! If she had 
been able to offer no more than a bunch of 
sweet herbs gathered in the fields, we can- 



1 76 Saturday Before Palm Sunday. 

not doubt that the offering would have been 
as acceptable to the Lord of earth and sky 
as the costly ointment. He to whom be- 
long the cattle upon a thousand hills was as 
well pleased with the turtle doves— the sac- 
rifice of the very poorest— as with the oxen 
and sheep of the prince in Israel. Let us 
never hesitate to give what we can because 
the gift is small. 

She hath done what she could ! It was 
her love which made the offering acceptable. 
She first gave herself (2 Cor. viii. 5), and the 
rest followed, as a matter of course. Let us 
honestly offer and present to the Lord our- 
selves, our souls and bodies, our powers, our 
very weakness and hindrances, and having 
done so, let us, as some old divine says, 
" keep ourselves on the altar," taking back 
nothing of all that we have given. The altar 
shaJil sanctify the gift, and make it as worthy 
of our Lord's accceptance as was Mary's box 
of precious perfume. 



Children in the Temple. iyj 



PALM SUNDAY. ' . 

CHILDREN IN THE TEMPLE. 

The great event of the day was over. 
The Lord had come to Jerusalem, fulfilling 
the words of the prophet. His had been a 
triumphal entry, and for a little time it 
seemed, indeed, as if the world had gone 
after Him. Only He Himself knew how 
evanescent would be the feeling in his favor. 
Only He knew that some of the very tongues 
which had cried " Hosanna ! " would in no 
long time be as ready to cry, " Crucify Him! " 

But there were other voices — innocent 
voices — to which the Lord could listen with 
delight. The little children in the temple, 
who had followed Him thither with their 
parents — possibly also those employed in the 
musical service — continued to repeat the 
shouts of the multitudes on the Mount of 
Olives, and th* spacious courts resounded 
with their shrill hosannas. His enemies were 
all the more enraged, and would have si- 
lenced them, but the Lord refused, and jus- 
tified their action. " Yea, have ye never 



!78 Palm Sunday. 

heard, Out of the mouth of babes and suck- 
lings Thou hast perfected praise " ? 

Nowadays the children's place in the tem- 
ple is too often vacant. One sees but seldom 
what was once the most common of Sunday 
sights — the long, orderly rows of children, 
big and little, filling the pews on Sunday. I 
cannot recollect when I first went to church, 
but I well remember what a deprivation it 
was to be kept at home. If the morning 
service was thought too long for the very 
little ones, they were taken in the afternoon. 
But the afternoon service has been turned 
into the evening, when the children cannot 
come out (it being considered by careful 
mothers much more dangerous to take them 
to church than to dancing-school); and at 
the morning service the clergyman may look 
over twenty pews and not see half a dozen 
children. 

Surely this is not right. Surely the praises 
of the little ones are as acceptable now as 
they were on the first Palm Sunday. Chil- 
dren soon learn to understand and join in 
the service. I shall never forget being, many 
years ago, in a church where the responses 
were made so faintly that one might think 
the worshippers were afraid some one would 



The Fig- Tree Having Leaves. 179 

hear them. All at once, in the midst of that 
cold, dying murmur, arose distinct and clear 
the voice of a little child saying in devoutest 
accents, " Good Lord, deliver us." All 
through the Litany the sweet little tones 
were heard, and it was curious to hear how 
others near him found courage to open their 
mouths. 

Dear friends, let us take the children to 
church. Let us not deprive them of their 
birthright. Their place is in the Sanctuary 
as well as ours, and they will soon learn to 
consider worship a privilege. They will 
learn to love God's house when they are 
young, and when they are old they will not 
depart from it. 



MONDAY BEFORE EASTER. 

THE FIG-TREE HAVING LEAVES. 

The Lord had, as usual, gone out of the 
city to spend the night. He seems to have 
had no love for cities in general. He had 
spent the dark hours cither at Bethany, or, as 
is very probable, He had slept with His dis- 
ciples in the open air, under the trees of the 



180 Monday Before Easter. 

Mount of Olives. All Orientals are rather 
fond of sleeping out of doors, and a night on 
the grass, wrapped in their big mantles, is, to 
them, no hardship at all. But returning to 
Jerusalem early in the morning, He was an- 
hungered ; and seeing a fig-tree having 
leaves, He came to it, if possibly He might 
find fruit thereon. 

The time of figs — the general harvest — 
had not yet come. But this particular tree 
had put on its summer dress of leaves ; and 
therefore it was reasonable to expect that it 
should also bear fruit, since the fruit of the 
fig-tree always precedes the leaf. Our Lord 
might have expected to find some of the 
small green figs which there often come to 
perfection in April or Max.* But the tree 
was barren. It had not even remaining any 
of the large purple fruit which hangs on till 
the next season. It was barren now ; it had 
been barren the year before. And so the 
Lord pronounced its condemnation. " Let 
no fruit grow on thee henceforth forever." 

Is there a possibility that one of us who 

*Note. — Thomson, author of " The Land and the 
Book" (which ought to be in every Sunday-school 
library as a book of reference), speaks of eating the 
little sweet green figs as early as April. 



The House Left Desolate. 181 

have followed the Church services all through 
this holy season may: be, after all, like this 
fig-tree ? It is possible that we may be like 
the empty vine described by the prophet — 
empty because it brought forth fruit only to 
itself? (Hos. x. i.) Oh, let us look to it, 
lest our Lord, seeking for fruit and finding 
none, may pronounce against us also the 
awful sentence, " No fruit grow on thee 
henceforth forever." 



TUESDA Y BEFORE EASTER. 

THE HOUSE LETT DESOLATE. 

Our Lord had visited the temple for the 
last time. He had silenced all his enemies ; 
He had frustrated all their deep-laid plans 
to entangle Him in His own words. He had 
poured out on the Scribes and Pharisees 
those terrible denunciations which filled up 
the cup of their spite and fury to overflow- 
ing. Then looking about Him, doubtless, at 
the magnificent building, and the still great 
and prosperous city with its crowded in- 
habitants, His heart of love and pity over- 
flowed once more, as it had done at the time 



1 82 Tiiesday Before Easter. 

of His triumphal entry. "O Jerusalem, 
Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets 
and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how 
often would I have gathered thy children to- 
gether, as a hen gathereth her chickens 
under her wings, and ye would not." And 
then came the saddest words of all. "Be- 
hold, your house is left unto you, desolate." 

Our Lord never entered the temple again. 
It stood in its majesty for many a year, un- 
touched by any outward enemy, throwing 
back the sunbeams, a "pile of gold and 
snow." Yet was it as surely a ruin as when 
the fire that devoured it was quenched in the 
blood of priests and worshippers. For the 
Lord had departed and all the splendor was 
but an empty show. The house was left, 
but it was desolate. 

Probably none of those who crowded to 
hear the Lord's last words, realized that 
they were the last. He had been going in and 
out among them for three years. They had 
become, as it were, used to seeing Hi's mira- 
cles and hearing His teachings, and there 
seemed no special reason why these miracles 
and teachings should not go on indefinitely. 
Probably very few, except His bitterest 
enemies, had made up their minds absolutely 



The House Left Desolate. 183 

to reject Him. There was time enough, 
they thought. 

But they were awfully mistaken. There 
was no more time. The clock had struck, 
though they had not heard it. The Lord, 
whom they had pretended to seek, had come 
to His temple, but the rulers there would 
have none of Him. And so they were left to 
themselves, to fill up the measure of their 
iniquities, and to be filled in turn with their 
own devices in a manner more awful than 
the world has ever seen. 

To every man and woman on earth there 
is coming a last time — a last Lent, a last 
Easter, a last Sunday, a last chance. " God 
had appointed a day." We know not what 
day, nor when it is to come, but being 
appointed, it is constantly drawing nearer 
and nearer. And when once the Master of 
the house has risen, and has shut to the 
door, it will not be opened again. God 
grant that at that awful time, none of us 
who have walked on together through this 
holy season, may be left outside that door to 
knock in vain! 



Wednesday Before Easter. 



WEDNESDAY BEFORE 
EASTER. 

THE LOST OPPORTUNITIES. 

We may think of this day with tender in- 
terest as our Lord's last quiet day upon 
earth. He seems to have spent it in retire- 
ment with His disciples, probably among 
the groves of that Mount which He loved so 
well ; not yet invaded by the foot of treach- 
ery and violence, but lying sweet and calm 
and beautiful with the tender tints of spring. 
Here He told His friends of the terrible fate 
which was even then threatening that tem- 
ple, to whose beauty and strength they had 
so lately directed His attention, and of that 
still more awful event, also inevitable, but 
the date whereof was still hidden in the 
councils of God. At this time, too, He spoke 
the parables of the wise and foolish virgins, 
and of the talents, and gave the description 
of the last Judgment contained in the same 
chapter. 

It is on one feature of the narration in 
this chapter that I would dwell for a few 



The Lost Opportunities. 185 

minutes. The most startling and significant 
thing about them all has always seemed to 
me this : that in every case the persons con- 
demned were so condemned not for what 
they did, but for what they did not do. The 
foolish virgins made no bad use of their 
lamps. They did not willfully waste their oil 
for their own pleasure. They simply neg- 
lected to provide it when they might have 
done so. When the time came that the 
lamps were needed they hastened to supply 
the deficiency, but it was then too late. 
They that were ready had gone in to the 
marriage, and the door was shut. 

So it was with the slothful servant with 
his one talent. He made no ill use of it. 
We do not hear that he drank or gambled. 
He was slothful — perhaps cowardly as well. 
So he hid his Lord's money, and was judged 
accordingly. The man with one talent is 
perhaps specially exposed to this tempta- 
tion. He can do but little in comparison to 
others, and so he will do nothing. But if 
his sentence was so severe, what shall be that 
of him who, having ten talents given him to 
serve his master withal, lets them lie unim- 
proved, or uses them for his own and others' 
destruction. 



1 86 Thursday Before Easter. 

Again, in the story of judgment, with which 
the chapter concludes, those who were sent 
away to the place prepared, not for them, 
but for the devil and his angels, were con- 
demned, not because they had ill-treated or 
robbed any one, but because having the op- 
portunity to succor the Lord in the persons 
of His poor, they had not done so. 

Do not these stories contain an awful 
warning ? How many say, if not openly, yet 
to themselves, "At least, if I do no good, I 
do no great harm." But let us not be de- 
ceived. The not doing good is of itself a 
sin, and as a sin it will surely be visited. 



THURSDA Y BEFORE EASTER. 

THE TRAITOR. 

" When evening was come, He sat down 
with the twelve" to the meal already pre- 
pared by the two disciples whom He had 
sent in the morning for that purpose. We 
cannot tell what were the thoughts that then 
occupied His mind, any further than the 
Holy Spirit had revealed them to us, but, so 
far, we m;y without presumption humbly 



The Traitor. 187 

try to enter into them. He knew, though 
His disciples did not, that his enemies were 
rwake, and already planning His destruc- 
tion, and that one of His chosen companions 
who was breaking bread with Him, would 
betray Him into their hands. He saw all 
the weakness and folly of those companions, 
even then disputing who should be greatest; 
He foresaw their cowardly desertion and 
flight. His soul was sorrowful, even unto 
death; yet we hear no words of impatience; 
only solemn warnings and tender counsels. 

There was one of the number to whom 
every look should have been a reproach, every 
word a sting. He had sold his Lord already, 
and was only biding his time to consummate 
the bargain; yet he could sit there at the 
board, could take the bread from that Mas- 
ter's own hand, could even ask with the 
others, " Is it I ?" 

Did his conscience even then torment him? 
Probably not. He had hardened it too long. 
Says a well-known writer : " Remorse may 
disturb the slumber of a man who is dab- 
bling with his first experiences of wrong; and 
when the pleasure has been tasted and is 
gone, and nothing is left of the crime but 
the ruin it has wrought, then, too, the furies 



1 88 . Thursday Before Easter. 

take their seats upon the midnight pillow. 
But the meridian of evil is for the most part 
left unvexed, and when a man has chosen 
his road he is left alone to follow it to the 
end." Judas had chosen his road. He had 
sold his Master for a paltry sum of money, and 
probably pleased himself with the thoughts 
of farther advantages which would be certain 
to follow such a service to the rulers. The 
world had hidden all else from his eyes, and 
if he now and then had a misgiving, he 
doubtless stifled it with the thought that the 
Master who had so often escaped the hands 
of his enemies would easily do so again. He 
would have the money and the credit, and 
there would be no great harm done after all. 

Is there any danger now, that Judas may 
be found at the Lord's table ? Is there any 
danger that we may betray our Master for 
gold, for fashion, or for worldly advantage ? 
Do we ever, for the sake of being thought 
liberal or intellectual, side with His open or 
covert enemies ? 

Let us beware ! It was an awful distinc- 
tion which our merciful and compassionate 
Lord gave to Judas. There was pardon for 
those who forsook Him for fear, for Peter 
who denied, for Paul who persecuted. It 



The Cross. 189 

was only Judas who sold Him, of whom it 
was said, "It were better for that man that 
he had never been born ! " 



GOOD FRIDAY. 

THE CROSS. 

There seems to be no room on this day for 
human words. What we have to do is to fol- 
low our suffering Lord step by step through 
the events of the day ; to see Him led from 
the high priest to Pilate, from Pilate to 
Herod, and back to Pilate again ; to see the 
cowardly Roman governor, acting against 
his own sense of law and justice for fear of 
the mob, seeking to save the innocent by a 
compromise, which failed, as such compro- 
mises always do, and at last giving way and 
delivering the victim into the hands of his 
enemies, to find, after all, that he had gained 
nothing but infamy by the surrender of honor 
and conscience. Let us, with the daughters 
of Jerusalem, follow the sad procession to 
Calvary. Let us see the Saviour of the world 
fainting under His burden, yet forgetting 
His own pain to address to the wailing 



190 Good Friday. 

women a word of recognition and warning. 
Let us see Him refusing the narcotic pro- 
vided by merciful hands to deaden the agonies 
of the sufferers. Let us, with His mother and 
the other faithful women, watch by His cross 
to the end. Surely we can do this for Him 
who has done so much for us. And as we 
keep our sorrowful yet joyful watch, let us 
always remember that we have our part in 
that awful sacrifice ; that our sins made a 
part of that crushing burden ; that our sins 
sharpened the nails and embittered the cup. 
Let us say again and again, as we watch the 
shadow darkening on the Saviours brow, 
that shadow which never anywhere falls but 
once, " He died for me! " 

He died for you, oh timid, doubting, de- 
sponding soul. How, then, can you distrust 
your Father's love, who suffered His well- 
beloved Son to bear all this for your sake ? 
He died for you, oh weak and weary sufferer, 
and He who so bore His own cross will help 
you to bear yours. Oh, thoughtless or care- 
less sinner, or hardened man of the world; 
oh, blasphemer or denier! He died for you 
that you might live for Him. Let it not be 
in vain that He has so died ! 






The Last Sabbath. iqi 



EASTER EVEN. 

THE LAST SABBATH. 

THE agony was over at last. Joseph and 
Nicodemus, openly taking sides with the dis- 
ciples of Jesus in this their darkest hour, had 
begged the Lord's body, and with all the 
tenderness and reverence which the time 
admitted, had laid it safely away in the gar- 
den tomb. The faithful women who had 
watched by the cross saw where the body of 
their Lord was laid, and sadly returned 
home. There was no more that they could 
do. Yes, one thing more. They prepared 
spices and ointments, and then, anxious as 
they were to complete the last service they 
could show, they rested the Sabbath day ac- 
cording to the commandment. If they could 
do no more, they could obey that law which 
He Himself had said should not pass away 
till all was fulfilled. 

They rested the Sabbath day. A sorrow- 
ful day, no doubt, yet not perhaps without its 
gleams of comfort. He whom they trusted 



I9 2 Easter Even. 

was to redeem Israel was gone, dead by a 
shameful and cruel death. After all His 
faithful teaching for three years among them, 
after all His miracles, after that triumphal 
entry of only a week before, He was dead. 
And yet, as they who had followed Him so 
faithfully talked over the events of their 
Lord's life, and recalled His words, it seems 
as if they must have remembered those mys- 
terious words of His about rising again- 
How many had He not recalled from death ? 
Had He not brought Lazarus back after he 
had been dead four days ? At all events, 
He was now out of reach of His enemies. 
Their malice could not harm Him now, and 
they should see Him again at that resurrec- 
tion of the just which He had taught them 
to expect. 

They rested the Sabbath day according to 
the commandment. It was, though they did 
not know it then, the last Sabbath under the 
old law. Henceforth, as long as the world 
stood, the first instead of the last day of the 
week was to be the " day of rest and glad- 
ness " to all Christian hearts and homes. It 
was to be pre-eminently the Lord's day — 
Sunday, we may well call it, since on that 
day the Sun of Righteousness rose on His 



Easter Even. 193 

Church to set no more. The disciples and 
the women did not know that it was the last, 
but they kept it in obedience. That at least 
was in their power. 

It may be that some one who reads these 
pages is bowed down with trouble from 
within or without ; perplexed with doubt, 
burdened with a sense of unworthiness, and 
hesitating whether or not to go to the Easter 
feast. To such an one let me say, dear 
friend, you can always obey. The King 
Himself invites you to the feast; and a royal 
invitation is a command. Draw near with 
faith, and take what your King offers you 
out of loyalty to His will. Believe me, He 
will himself give you the wedding garment 
which shall render you fit for His presence. 
And as for your burden, lay it at His feet 
and leave it there. Only obey, and the 
blessing will as surely follow as light follows 
the sun. 



194 Easter. 



EASTER. 

THE DA Y OF THE LORD. 

This is the day of the Lord ; we will re- 
joice and be glad in it. It is the great day 
of the Church, the crowning feast of the 
year. Even the world rejoices on Christmas 
Day, though it scarcely knows why; but this 
is the Christian's day. To him who does not 
believe, it means nothing ; to us, it means 
everything. 

Our Lord has risen from the dead. Hence- 
forth the grave has for us no terror. Our 
Lord has opened its fast-barred gates and 
let in the sunshine to every corner ; and as 
we look into it, we see nothing to affright 
us. He has made it a safe resting-place; 
and we may commit to it the bodies of our 
dear ones, with the tears that love demands 
indeed, but in hope, because as our Lord 
rose they too shall rise to die no more. 

Our Lord is risen from the dead; and from 
henceforth the hope of a future life is no more 
a dream, a theory, a fond hope. To us who 



The Day of the Lord. 195 

believe, it is a certainty beyond all doubt. 
Because He lives, we shall live also. 

When the women and the other disciples 
had become assured that their Lord had 
really risen; when He had spoken and eaten 
with them, and their hands had touched and 
handled Him, the distress and grief of the 
last few days must have seemed to them like 
a bad dream. So will the longest, weariest 
life seem to the disciple who looks at it 
from the rest of Paradise. It was long, but 
the end came at last. It was hard to bear, 
but it is all over now. The poor, weak soul 
trembled at the passage, but it was safely 
made, and the Home is gained, from which 
there is no going out forevermore. It was 
a dark, restless night perhaps, full of sad 
dreams and fears, but it is past and gone 
now. The sun has risen, and it will never 
set. 

Our Lord is risen from the dead ! He 
calls us, as He did His disciples, to eat and 
drink with Him. Let us hasten to obey. 
And if we are so shut in that we cannot go 
with the multitude to His holy table, let us 
prepare Him a place in our hearts, and rest 
assured that He will come and sup with us 
and we with Him. 



ig6 Conclusion, 



CONCLUSION. 
LOOKING BACK. 

EVERY wise merchant, at the close of a 
busy season, looks back over his business, 
and reckons up his profits and losses. We, 
dear friends, have been passing through a 
season of more than usual occupation and 
privilege. Lent is now at an end. Let us 
look back and see if we have gained or lost 
ground in our spiritual progress during the 
last busy days. 

We have surely gained, if we have used 
them as we ought. If we have laid out a 
plan of work or study or self-denial, and ad- 
hered to it as far as possible, our wills have 
been strengthened by the process. If we 
have taken unavoidable mterruptions pleas- 
antly, if we have borne with criticism, kind or 
unkind, good-naturedly, if we have been un- 
ostentatious in our devotions, while yielding 
not a jot of what we believe to be right, we 
have surely grown in grace. If we have laid 
aside light and amusing books, that we might 



Looking Back. 197 

have more time for religious reading and tor 
Bible study, we have increased in knowledge. 
In short, if we have used the time as we 
ought, we have laid up strength and formed 
good habits which will help us through the 
entire year. 

But if, through idleness or self-indulgence, 
we have allowed the precious hours and days 
to pass empty away ; if our Bibles have been 
neglected, and our time frittered away on 
trifles; if we have done and given nothing 
for the spread of the . Gospel, the advance- 
ment of the Lord's cause — then has the 
Lenten season been lost. If we have formed 
no good habits to carry us through the rest 
of the year, if we are ready to plunge into 
new frivolities, or to take up the old ones 
with a new zest after a few weeks of absti- 
nence, then it is worse than lost. We might 
better not have had it. For every privilege 
misused, every means of grace unimproved, 
does but harden the heart and blunt the 
conscience. 

Without wishing to be censorious, it does 
seem to me that a good many Christians do 
up their religion in Lent, so as to have little 
left for the rest of the year. For six weeks 
they are to be seen in the Sunday-school, at 



l 9% Conclusion. 

the missionary meeting, at the week-day 
service; but look for them after Easter, and 
you will find their places vacant. " Yes, I 
went to the meetings in Lent," said one ; 
" but now that the world is going on again, 
there are so many claims on my time ! " One 
could not help wondering a little what claims 
the world had on the time of a Christian 
after Easter any more than before. 

But let us beware of judging our neighbors; 
we shall have quite enough to do in exam- 
ining our own consciences and bewailing our 
own sinfulness, that we may come well pre- 
pared to the blessed feast of Easter. We 
shall all see plenty to regret in the weeks 
that are past. Let us see to it that the com- 
ing days— the days of our Lord's humiliation 
and death— are so employed as that the feast 
of His joyful and glorious resurrection may- 
find us ready, in the marriage garment pre- 
scribed by Holy Scripture, to be meet par- 
takers of that Holy Table. 

Isa. liii. i Cor. xi. ly. 

THE END. 



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